Serpent, Soarer, and Guardian
by Eduard Kassel
Summary: Failure, it can open the door to unexpected opportunities. Fate has reaped an unusual reward, as those who endured 3rd Impact find themselves in a strange new place. With bizzare new forms an uncertain future awaits the survivors. AxS Rei adopts Kanna
1. Prologue: Even Angels Fall

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I do not own Evangelion, if I did I would never have allowed the Television series finale to exist. Also I would be rich,and using my wealth and fame to inflict my own satirical humor and dark tragedies on an unsuspecting world! I do not own Inuyasha either.

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**Serpent, Soarer & Guardian**

**Prologue**

_Angels Fall_

One night, in a land, in a time before disaster might strike the human world and carved its fate in stone, a star fell from the sky. Its descent did not go unobserved as Kami, Oni, and Human alike saw its brilliance and for just a moment were gripped by a sensation of melancholy as lost memories came back to them. Among those who observed was a demon that had long sought to cast aside his heart, and he turned from it when even he felt the stirring of something alike to sorrow. Locked away from the sky his daughters did not see it, a final commonality as their destiny's prepared to diverge forever.

Further afield a band of humans and demons saw it as they sat around their fire. The significance was lost on them, though the monk and priestess sensed some significance to the event. A foretelling perhaps, in regard to their long quest drawing to its close at last. A light amongst the darkness rending the night, or the light falling and ultimately fading from sight; it could be seen as foretelling victory or defeat.

While these observers were interesting, their opinions did not affect the outcome on that night. A few noticed a piece break off from the main light as it descended, a shard of its almost divine glow fell far from the others to walk a road distant and twisted. As for the rest, for the falling star was not singular, but three masses intertwined, their descent continued unhindered, unknowing of what had occurred. Truthfully unaware of anything just yet.

As gravity carried the errant star towards a final confrontation with the ground the twisted masses worked free. Thus the three split off from one another, a pulsing white light replaced by faint points of red, purple, and blue. Any aesthetic pleasing qualities of this display were spoiled, as the three objects struck the ground with a sound like that of a drum.

The impacts were some distance from each other, but not so far as that. When the dust settled it revealed craters rudely driven into the soil, faint light from the respective colors shined from the heart of the craters. While this was a fairly pretty sight, the sound of snapping bones, the popping of limbs, and the tearing and healing of skins was far less so and would hint at life inside the earthen scar.

So it was with a distinct lack of ceremony and pomp that from an ending sprang a new beginning, as the life within the crater came into the world of the living once more.

_"Ouch," _she thought. Not the most eloquent statement to make upon returning to the waking world, but an understandable one to those that understood.

_"What happened?"_ Asuka wondered lying on her back debating whether or not to open her eyes. Her memory was blurry and her easily frustrated nerves began to kick in as she sifted for a solid memory in the fuzz of her mind.

After a long time that was actually a surprisingly short time, she finally grasped a solid sequence of events and abruptly wished she hadn't. Her breath caught and she would have frozen if she had not already been still.

She had died; Asuka Langley Sorhyuu had died. She had fought the MP Evas all alone and won, but they had still beaten her. A Lance had pierced her Eva's eye, at such a high sync rate her own eye had exploded out of her head. The agony and horror had been unbearable, to be so injured and violated in the very moment of victory. They had all risen up as she fell to her knees, broken and still with her weapons stuck in them they rose to stand over her as fates seemed to reverse. They had been horrible, even worse that Unit One had been that day it emerged from the Angel corpse covered in blood and howling like some nightmare. Their massive mouths and eyeless visage reminded her of something forgotten. The movie Pinocchio of all things, the massive maw of the whale as it rushed towards you preparing to eat you up.

And they had done just that. They had impaled her with their lances and ripped her Eva apart, devouring limbs and guts. Her sync was so high the damage carried over, and she felt things no one was meant to experience and live.

But she was alive.

She was alive.

But then what did that mean?

Did that make it a dream? The lake, mater, the white whales, fucking Moby Dicks, was all of it just a nightmare? Very tempting, oh my yes, but she had been haunted by nightmares long enough to tell the difference between unpleasant memories and bug fuck bad dreams.

"All right, I am not dead, but a bunch of evil whales, er never mind. Anyway," Asuka thought; her still groggy mind tried to dodge further recollection of her demise. With a considerable effort she raised her right arm. It was actually this action that made her realize that arm had been bisected, she wondered again about the reality of her memory. On that train of thought she touched her closed left eye, only to find the organ safely tucked into its socket.

Relief flooded her that she was not maimed. Though she realized her hand had felt off. Was she still in the plug suit? Or was she in a hospital wrapped up in something for recuperation? Whatever that was, it was not her bare hand on her face.

By now feeling was returning to her. She could feel her joints aching and a general tightness across her arms neck and torso, like all her muscles had been cramping just now.

"Wait a second . . ."

"My legs?!" Asuka croaked. She could feel her body, but below the waist was only a vague fuzzy feeling.

'Am I paralyzed, mein Gott, I'm paralyzed!' she shrieked in her mind. She could picture it; her legs either replaced with bandaged ugly stumps, or dangling uselessly, worthless scrawny hunks of meat and bone. She would rather be dead than be reduced to a wheelchair bound invalid. After all, for a chronically self-critical perfectionist being crippled was a nightmare, on par with disfigurement.

She finally forced her eyes open, and was quite surprised by what she saw. It wasn't the ceiling of NERV Medical, or any ceiling. It was the sky, a night sky; it reminded her a bit of the hill after the black out. This was not making sense; with her hearing coming back it sounded like the country and smelled like a smelter.

What the fuck was going on?

Recalling the urgency that drove her to open her eyes she dug her elbows into the ground, lifting herself up to inspect the damage.

Her eyes grew to the size of dinner plates as she looked down on herself. For only the second time in her short and tragic life the Pilot of Unit 2 was utterly at a loss for words. Faced with a reality that even 3rd Impact what nor prepared her for, she did the only sane thing, and fainted.

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AN: _I know, I know, another story. In all fairness though this story has been bugging me for nearly a year. For fans of of KLW do not bang your heads at this dvelopment. With this out of the way I am focusing my efforts on completing the first chapter of "Kindred: A Tale of Love & War", the rewrite of my longest running story that will hopeflully be a higher quality and more consistent tale than its predecesssor. _

_Also, I would not have such an arrogant braggart as a protagonist; and I would have stranded Kagome in the past for the duration of the series for more tragic effect and seperation. Though since I oppose character bashing Inuyasha fans do not have to worry about me slandering their favorite characters. But since it is me do not excpect sany character to get an easy ride._

**Please Review.**


	2. Awakening to Changes

**Disclaimer:**_ Believe it or not I do not own Neon Genesis Evangelion or its manga alter ego. I was surprised to hear it too. Though it does explain the horrible television finale; "congratulations" indeed! That ending made me want to go outside and have at the plant life with the big shears! Oh and I do not own Inuyasha either, if I did the well would not have let her commute between eras. That was one of my chief peeves with the series._

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**Chapter I**

Awakening to Change

Pain and confusion, two things people will often go out of their way to avoid, especially when they come as a package. For Rei, pain was no strange thing; her unstable body had constantly been agitated with flare-ups and injuries only making the constant more noticeable. Coupled with her highly irregular development, Rei truly could take pain in stride.

Confusion, however, was a new acquaintance, and one that she disliked to the point that hatred would fit if she possessed the range for that emotion. In her life, Rei had experienced confusion only twice, first with the death of Rei I and secondly in her interactions with Pilot Ikari, Shinji.

This train of thought only furthered her state of disarray, her face setting into a scowl that would shock anyone who had worked with the nearly robotic girl. Her memory was far different than she recalled; her past selves had been like a lesson learned, not like events that had actually happened. No that was a simplification; those events had felt real, but also surreal. It was a feeling no one had ever bothered to explain and that she had never bothered to ask. Now the chain of memory was unbroken – rather than Rei I, II, and III there seemed to be only Rei.

Attempting to divert her attention from that which made no sense, Rei studied her surroundings. She was in a wooded area, a forest to be more exact. The trees in her immediate area had been uprooted or felled by the impact of her landing; she was in fact sitting on such a trunk at the moment. Still observing the crater she had recently emerged from, the force of impact should have produced greater damage than was apparent. Yet again confusion ensued.

Sadly, the fact she continued to exist was the most puzzling. Despite her act of rebellion against the commander, she had carried out her destiny by initiating Third Impact, in order to somehow aid the one being to show her kindness. It had been her fate to rejoin Lilith, to vanish like a drop fallen into the sea, her ego and sense of self to disperse with the only remnant being a form for Lilith to cloak herself in.

She had joined and the darkness had come over her. But she had not been alone in the nothing. She had witnessed the Commander's judgment at the hands of the Mother and Tabris, even his final defeat as the ID of Yui Ikari and Shinji Ikari devoured his soul. For so long he had been her only contact with another being and the creator of her existence, yet holding the sole relic of his existence she had felt no sorrow. Only pity and confusion as three became one.

"My form has changed, was my humanity purged?" she wondered aloud. The act of speaking gave an illusion of progress toward answers. Reaching out a strange new hand she willed her AT Field to manifest. The feeling was a new experience, unlike the grating and forceful light she expected, a subtle warm feeling burst from her chest and raced down her hand, which was subsequently obscured by a semitransparent white energy.

Surprised by the unprecedented occurrence, her concentration vanished as the light dispersed. That experience was nothing like the use of her AT field, and the energy also bore no true resemblance to Absolute Terror Field.

Rei had absolutely no idea what was going on. For a being that had been raised and conditioned to accept a grim predestination uncertainty was utterly terrifying. Acting on newfound instincts, the First Child hugged her legs to her chest as her new wings enfolded her form.

The time she spent trying to be small and vanish could have been long or short, but it was undeniably the most unpleasant experience in her life to date. Even the Commander's hand piercing her flesh to invade her womb had at least been expected. There was no scenario to follow, no orders to carry out – for the first time in her life she was free to do as she wanted, and she had no capacity to act on her own initiative.

The shouts cut through the night sounds of the forest like a knife through silk. Unmistakably human and just as certainly distressed. Emerging from her self-concealment, Rei turned to regard the direction of the disturbance. Part of her felt she should remain where the scenario had taken her, yet there was something there that might give her direction.

Soon, she delicately made her way through the forest, her steps cautious in finding her balance points and centers of gravity. She had stumbled a few times, discovering her new feet seemed more inclined to grip the ground slightly rather than rest upon it. The wings also proved somewhat troublesome, relaxing them to a more open position prompted them to snag and bump, hindering her progress and sending pain through the new appendages.

The environment did not help; forests were something she had only the faintest of experiences with. In her lives she had never been permitted to venture far beyond the boundaries of Tokyo-3, so the bulk of her experiences consisted of that city and the Geofront. Though to say she was not allowed beyond those boundaries would be something of an exaggeration, after all she had never tested her boundaries so as to determine their limit and breadth. In the simplest terms, her purpose had not required experiences beyond those environments, so she had never sought them out.

These facts, coupled with her confusion, made for a very unpleasant trip. So much so that a smile's ghost played on her face as she emerged into a clearing, the wings stretching freely in the open space. She noted the strangeness of taking such comfort of an act she had only just become capable of, before turning her attention to more immediate matters.

Rei's face returned to its normal blankness as a new stream of exclamations sounded… in German? Yes, she could now identify it as the voice of Unit 2 Pilot Sorhyu, who was in fact inclined to excessive and often unwarranted exclamations. Still, Rei found this somewhat strange as her final recollection of the pilot was of her being virtually catatonic and suffering from dehydration.

While it was somewhat logical, she was surprised to locate a crater not unlike the one she had recently emerged from in the clearing. Acting on the obvious course she concluded her fellow pilot to be within the crater and made her way to the rim. Had she been anyone else her jaw would have dropped, as it was her eyes merely grew to the size of dinner plates at what was thrashing in the bottom of the crater.

It was red, it was bigger than a human, and it was most definitely not human. But for all that it was unmistakably Asuka Lanlgey Sorhyu. Rei casually observed a parallel to her own avian alterations, the pilot of Unit 2 having apparently received reptilian, more specifically sake, alterations. Her neck and everything below was covered in scales the same shade of red her plug suit had been. Though a few moments of observation revealed some kind of pattern of black scales along the sides of her torso. Still the greatest alteration was her legs, or rather their absence. Asuka's waist did not give way to a pair of legs but to a snake tail thick as her waist for much of its length. And its length was considerable, nearly twice as long as Asuka had formerly been tall. From what she could interpret of the Second Child's exclamations, the tail was the reason for her current state of impotent panic. It seemed she did not know how to move it properly anymore than Rei did her wings.

In the past Rei, when given a choice, had avoided the most unpredictable and temperamental pilot of Eva, but this encounter was the closest thing she had made to progress.

While pondering how best to address the Pilot of Unit 2, the situation was taken out of her hands as Asuka, apparently sensing someone watching her, looked up and saw what her confused mind could only register as a harpy.

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It was covered in feathers; white as Ayanami's skin had been, even preserving the girl's nonexistent modesty. The face was unchanged, that same infuriating doll face with soulless red eyes. The top of her head had a modest blue plumage, the blue feathers spikier than her old style. Her feet were disgusting, pale scaled avian appendages from the knee down with black talons digging into the ground. Her hands seemed scale-less, the feathers shrinking and petering off on the back of her hands, only marred by the black claws the replaced her fingernails.

And most unforgivably there were the wings. It was like a painting of an angel. No not the real ones, who were ever hideous and monstrous. The fairytale brand of angel was what she thought of, benign and just beings of beauty and holiness worshipped by people in times more innocent. Before Second Impact proved every cynic and silenced all optimism. They were beautiful and surely functional, she just knew it; and that only made her hate the sight of them more than the person wearing them.

"Oh just perfect!" she screamed as the universe tossed more metaphorical fuel on the symbolic fire. Now another monster attacks her? Why not Gott? Why not kick me while I'm down, she howled internally, and externally unbeknownst to her.

"Pilot Sorhyu, are you injured?" Rei asked. Asuka's rant paused as her eyes widened to the point Rei was irrationally wondering if they could fall out.

"Wonder Girl?" Asuka asked in a strange tone. Rei nodded her head in affirmation, and was only mildly surprised when her fellow pilot's expression turned from shock to rage. It did fit with her past experiences with the girl. Rei was prepared to let her vent her rage in insults and the odd clump of dirt striking her feathered form. Patience was rewarded after a fashion, as Sorhyuu grew tired and slumped down, supported by her arms against the bit of crater floor her body did not occupy, murmuring under her breath.

The Pilot of Unit Zero decided this was the time to take progressive action. While no greater goal still came to mind, assisting a fellow pilot was a viable short-term objective.

"You seem to be having trouble moving your body. I will assist you in leaving the crater," Rei stated rather than requested.

"Don't you touch me! You're even more of a freak now, and I don't need your help!" Asuka shrieked, apparently regaining some spunk out of sheer spite. Rei tentatively descended the crater's slope, ignoring Asuka's insults and finally extended a hand to grab her by the wrist. Rei blinked as she saw Asuka's eye's narrow and a furious hiss erupt from her mouth; it occurred to her this might have been a bad idea. Asuka swung her arm overhead, carrying Rei with it.

Releasing her grip, Rei instinctively spread her wings and was surprised when her fall slowed and her arc was higher than logic dictated, letting her land lightly on her stomach on the opposite end of the crater. The illogical outcome frustrated her more than her fellow pilot's attack. Asuka for her part was only further pushed into irrational anger as a coping mechanism when she watched Wonder Girl practically fly out of the crater. Not only was she some kind of monster but she got stuck with immobility while that albino bitch got wings!

Rei took a new perch on the crater's ledge. There was no clear means to proceed; the Second Child's erratic behavior only seemed to have been augmented. Despite the strange reaction she had experienced, it was clear her being hurt was possible. Furthermore, evaluating the possible weight of the Second, Rei could not be certain she could extract her from the crater even with cooperation.

Perhaps she should have remained in her own hole?

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Shinji Ikari sat with his back to a tree not thinking. After using the minimal effort to pull himself out of the crater he had apparently made, he had taken the first sturdy looking tree and sat down against it to try and piece his shattered reality together.

Though, he had since given up on that. What he seen, done, felt, or experienced was too much. All sense fled with the moment he saw the corpse of Unit 2 (Asuka). From then to now in this latest vision or hallucination, reality was a nightmare without direction or purpose. Though did it even begin then?

His sanity had never been strong, an elastic thing where he went with the punches the world threw, making his spine into rubber. But the tightrope he walked had narrowed to a pin's breadth with Kaworu, who had given him something wonderful only to snatch it back. No, that wasn't even it; the red-eyed boy had forced him to do something he could never take back, to cross a terrible line with a sadistic choice.

No all of it was too fantastic, too much to have been real, everything since his father's letter. He had dreamed of something like it ever since his father deserted him; it had been devoid of affection but it was still what he had never received – acknowledgement. From there things had only gone further from sanity – giant monsters, piloting a giant robot that was really a monster. Yes, according to these visions his first impression had been right, or had it been that the EVA was his mother?

A life of social sterility replaced with being surrounded by women, a teenager's fantasy. Rei, at first a damsel to be protected, then someone even more broken than him, far too convenient, or a sisterly companion or a lover depending on the day. Misato managed to be an object of a desire for maternity and lust, a disgusting combination that should have told him how far he had gone. Fantasies picked up somewhere along the way.

The gaijin girl was the most fantastic. His utter opposite, a unique mixed heritage and remarkable in every physical, mental and social sense; things that one time or another he had wished for without the courage to even form the idea in his mind. She had been a college student, a warrior trained for years, and so overflowing with life and purpose. Her existence had been like fire, offering him warmth and light in the frigid night of his existence, only to burn him if he came too close. She was the one meant for the hero role, not the selfish unremarkable coward.

Truthfully, any of them had been more suited to the role. Toji, strong, brave, and with the strength to admit a mistake when it was something he was loath to do. Kensuke had been willing to risk his life just to glimpse the war, and had actually wanted to volunteer to ride a demon into hell. Even Hikari, the class rep. who was always so willing to dedicate herself to a duty or put the needs of others first, was a fine candidate indeed. Yes any if them would have filled the role better.

Asuka… she had been the key to that world of delusion, the one thing he longed for more than companionship, his father's acknowledgement, or even a mother's love. He did not know what to call it, only that it had existed. The fire refused to help him, to give him the warmth and light to save him from his existence; all she gave was pain. Shinji could not escape her, and no amount of begging would make her what he needed. You put out a fire by smothering it, so he had tried to put out the fire with his own two hands denying it air.

And so it had went, thoughts chasing thoughts down dead ends and blind alleys, all attempting to escape or reconcile that which could not be understood.

"Enough. No more," was the thought that chimed through the chaos and rendered all inert. There was someone home behind those eyes, but the lights where out, the door and windows boarded over as the soul retreated into itself.

Shinji Ikari could have remained there forever beneath the shadow of the leaves, though even now he could not be certain of the definition of where.

Dante said that once you have entered Hell the only means of leaving is to descend until you reach its nadir and come out the other side. So it is perhaps fitting that what stirred him from this personal purgatory was the very one who had consigned him to it.

The wind had picked up and it carried scents upon it. Their scents; he did not have mind enough to wonder how he recognized them, only instinct remained and unlike the boy it possessed no capacity for doubt or hesitation. One of them was distressed – that was not to be allowed, so with a shrieking of metal and a tearing of wood he arose.

One to arrive would hesitate to flee. None you knew would believe. The face familiar and unknown was indifferent; the eyes alone spoke of purpose as relentless and terrifying as the glaciers descent. These doubts, these feelings, all reduced to the wind howling about the mountain, barely noted and not receiving a pale ghost of acknowledgement.

The first step was awkward; the first true one taken in this form, what was once a pilot fell with a crash, the grass and soil torn up about him. The face wax the only thing that hurt, but pain was idle, no more than a polite informing of potential damage, more concerning was the lack of progress. It was no matter; steel claws dug into soil and pushed his bizarre form upright once more. Again he stumbled; he did not fall a second time, each successive step surer, stronger than the last. Running was not to be done, they were not so far and his urgency did not yet compel extremes. For there was no given reason just as there were no questions.

The self-imposed slumber of reason gave rise to something older and far more stubborn, and it wanted little but was unerring in its pursuit of that goal.

Find, protect; fire and water. What was once the pilot of Unit One was on its way, heaven help any that would obstruct its trek

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Author's Note:

_And the saga continues, finally. Most probably thought this had died, but it was just in remission; though that may not be the right word. Anyway hope it was enjoyable, this crossover combo is a delightful challenge. It will be a bit before the Inu group enters but the world will start to be fleshed out and encounters with other Inuyasha characters loom. A little monochromatic girl in particular comes to mind._

_As for the pilots not being totally in character, they are evolving in more ways than one. As one Eva writer on this sight said, "If Third Impact doesn't change you then nothing will." That was freaky to watch on a screen so the experience would have a major impact on them if they survived; hell in canon Shinji's first act afterwards was attempted homicide. So if they are out of character I assure you it is with reason and the reasons will be addressed. Cause and effect is the rule, no unexplained irrational reversals to be had here._

_Oh and the idea for this story came from a drawing I saw on deviant art of Asuka as a lamia, or a naga? A snake person of some kind, at any rate you get the idea. Inspiration comes in all manner of packages. _

_Please Review, we both know its not that hard. _


	3. Separation & Reunions

_**Disclaimer:** I own neither, Neon Genesis Evangelion or Inuyasha. There would have been no TV ending to Evangelion if I had something to say about it and you probably would not recognize Inuyasha._

_Thanks to Snipa, for thoughtful services as beta for this story._

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**Separations & Reunions**

Anyone else would speculate that fate was conspiring to push them out of their comfort zone. Rei on the other hand had never been informed of the idea of such a zone; she only realized that circumstances were forcing her to act and think outside her accustomed boundaries. The first child was irritated and on the road to being angry.

This had been a bad night for her and the only progress she had made was locating the Pilot of Unit 2, but said pilot was only compounding her problems by behaving more irrational than usual. Rei was shocked that she was thinking in some desperation too disregard emergency protocols and leave a fellow pilot, if only 'til she was less troublesome.

For the moment Rei was sitting on the grass, surprised at how naturally her body eased in a crouching position that was quite comfortable. The lack of exclamations from the hole might mean the Pilot of Unit 2 had exhausted herself. While it was more peaceful, it was no good in achieving her goal of extracting her fellow pilot from the crater. Even if she was asleep, the act of dragging her out would likely awaken her and result in an assault on her person. And she did not want to be assaulted.

Besides, the odds did not favor her strength being sufficient enough to haul the enlarged body of the Second Child up the incline even with cooperation. Her reaction was one that she had observed in Major Katsuragi and Dr. Akagi and seemed appropriate for the moment: she sighed.

The shift of the wind brought a familiar scent to her. The source of many scents, blood included, was coming closer. She turned more nimbly than she thought possible in this state, and gazed into the trees where the smell came from. Not just blood, but also two more scents mixed in. The other was more familiar, but she could not place it.

Breathing it in Rei could feel some of the tension in her head loosening like a muscle in a hot bath. But rather than her senses being dulled they felt keener; the sounds more pronounced, the wind in her feathers and of course the scent itself. She had no idea such a reaction could be caused by a mere scent, much less one mixed with the scent of blood. It was still impossible to place the third scent.

Whatever it was it was coming closer. She could hear the movement amidst the foliage now, it was big.

Rei was actually a bit relieved at the prospect of its arrival. If it brought aid, somehow, that was too the good. And if it killed her, then she would not have to worry about this uncharted scenario anymore. While her priorities would puzzle most, they seemed quite reasonable to the albino bird-girl.

As it turned out, what emerged only made matters still more complicated for the mentally overworked girl.

He was close now, much closer. The wind had shifted, stealing any scent, and noise had stopped, yet there was certainty he was getting closer. A thick branch caught across his chest, arresting his progress for a moment. There was no reaction save for a half step back followed by the branch snapping and clattering to the ground as he stepped over it.

The trees gave way to clear sky, and he realized he was not alone. Looking down, he saw what his brain cobbled together into categorizing as a bird-girl. No good. It was not what he was looking for. Then she looked up at him, with red eyes and a face that looked as if it was crafted from freshly fallen snow. It shouldn't have been, but it was and that was more than sufficient. No questions now, only that which was played across void outside the closed keep.

"Aye-ah-nami," the words came from a ragged throat akin to the last words of a soldier succumbing to wounds. Recognition light up her eyes, and snow might have fallen in hell as Rei Ayanami's jaw dropped.

"Pilot Ikari?" Rei asked already knowing the answer. While aware of rhetorical questions, she never saw the need. Until now. She had asked the question just to buy time to get back on her feet mentally as the rug of reality was jerked out from under her, again.

He was changed, as it seemed to be the pattern. He was quite large now. Smaller than the trees but taller than any human male she had ever encountered. But he was different from her and unit 2's Pilot. He seemed to have brought some of his Eva-unit with him; as a part of him. It had been his scent that she had barely recognized. She had first gotten to know that odor the day he came into her apartment and fell on her.

The purple armor encased his torso much like the Eva's, but on his limbs it seemed to grow out of him, metal ridges following his bones dividing his flesh. The palms and back of his hands were still human in appearance, but purple armor covered his thumbs and fingers ending in claws that made her a little uneasy. With a near chill, a thought strayed over her mind wondering if it was actually the Eva wearing pieces of pilot Ikari.

The head was what had most thrown her, not the ring of purple metal around his skull plate, which called a crown to her mind, it was the face. It reminded her of the Commander at first glance, but it was quite different she could see now. Perhaps the face Ikari would have worn had he become a young man, the eyes were his, but they seemed dead. The uncertainty that always lurked, the fire that rarely came to the face, and even the fear, were all gone. It was like staring into the eyes of the Dummies.

"Ahska," the Ikari thing breathed. It was easy to interpret and Rei wondered if this was a situation she could make use of. Well it couldn't hardly make matters worse she decided.

"The pilot of Unit 2 is in the crater, can you get her out?" Rei asked. He gave no response and she wondered if something was wrong with him, aside from the obvious and the usual. It was needless to worry in this regard as he stepped forward, a roll step that tore up the ground with the hard sharp point of his heel. Rei hopped out of his way, being uncertain that he would avoid stepping on her. Only to be puzzled by the form of locomotion she had used.

She was surprised he didn't march just as thoughtlessly into the crater. He looked down, presumably on the half snake pilot, before kneeling down to grip the craters edge in one clawed hand before awkwardly descending. Well it seemed he could still be considerate. _Things are looking up_, Rei thought.

Then an out of sight Asuka gave a high pitched scream, something rang against metal. As the second child cried out in fear and pain, Rei conceded ,mentally, that things were not getting better any time soon. And worse of all, she seemed the only one fit to take emergency command.

Staying in her crater was increasingly appearing to have been the best idea after all.

_

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_

Later:

Daybreak was a relief, not that Rei had slept any. The daylight, however, seemed to have a calming effect on the second child; she was just highly irritable rather than hysteric. Thus, after the nights dramatics, they could hopefully get something productive accomplished. Rei hoped so at least.

Asuka had come screaming and scratching out of the crater as Ikari picked her up bridal style and a good potion of her tail dragging behind him. Having not recognized him, the transformed pilot believed herself under attack. Fortunately he seemed quite durable to her scale covered fists. Though, Rei was puzzled by the discoloration to his armor and skin where he had been holding her. It was gone by dawn so she forgot about it in favor of more pressing matters.

After he took Rei's instructions a bit too literally and dropped the red pilot she had proceeded to drag herself a sort distance by her hands before exhausting herself enough that she had little choice but to listen to Rei's explanation.

–

"Alright then, so in review you are now some kind of chicken, the dunkopf got upgraded to Jolly purple giant in exchange for trading in what passed for his mind, and top it all off we are stranded in the middle of nowhere. That cover it?" Asuka inquired. She was lying on her back on the grass. She had tired herself out due to a combination of poor choice of words by Wonder girl and the stupidity that is Wonder wuss.

After she dragged herself most of the way across the clearing, which in of itself was extraordinary due to her new figure, she had finally calmed down somewhat. Rei had taken the opportunity to explain things. Sure enough, the hulking Eva armored Ikari's failure to react to her insults convinced her it was him. Rei could not approve of the other pilots logic, but it did lead to the correct conclusion.

Rei nodded in the affirmative to the second child's analysis. Though, it wasn't accurate as it made no mention of the incredible serpentine change in Asuka herself. Unlike Rei, and apparently Ikari, the second child was not adapting her new form, only able to ineffectively wiggle the tail they now constituted the majority of her body. In response to her earlier worry over being naked of all things, Rei wondered if she realized her lower anatomy probably conformed more to a snakes than a human.

Rei's plumage rose a tad as she realized she had missed something the other pilot said.

"What?" Rei asked. The narrowed gaze of the second didn't bother her even slightly, the commander's scrutiny had been exponentially more unpleasant. Besides, a new voice in her head whispered, it was not as if the second child could actually hurt her.

"I said 'what should we do now?'" Asuka reiterated. Bad enough to be in this freakish state, but she was loosing out to the doll in coping. She was the best, she would find a way out of this mess and put the first back in her proper place! As if impotent scheming was exerting Asuka's stomach growled, making her cheeks flush matching her scales.

"Securing provisions seems the logical first step. Water and food," Rei recited from a nearly forgotten lesson. While the scenario never required her to leave the City, some precautions had been taken to ensure she would survive awhile if she was stranded away from civilization.

"Sounds like a plan, you fetch us a pail of water or whatever, and the giant wuss can scrounge up some food," Asuka decided. Rei didn't object, seeing no great flaw with the order, and as for Shinji he, seemed to realize Asuka was talking about him. Without a word, the massive figure walked off into the forest making a new path.

Rei looked to the skies and found herself flexing her wings. An idea whisked across her mind, but she quickly dismissed it. Taking the path Shinji had arrived from, she picked her way into the forest straining her senses for water.

Alone again Asuka slumped on her shoulders, looking down at her body. Even alone she suppressed a whimper as she hand one hand down from her waist. She pressed the palm and fingers down where there should have been space between her thighs, but was only smooth hard scales in a single unbroken appendage.

"Graah!" She cried, the the tail flopping up and to the right and she tried to will it to split down the middle into two proper appendages. It was futile though; it wasn't like her legs were trapped, she could almost feel phantom legs tingling at her bulk. They were gone, and she would bet it was her spine running clean from her scaly neck to the tip she morbidly wiggled.

Letting herself fall back to earth and trying not to cry at her horrid state, Asuka was wholly unaware of the chill running down her spine. She was far from alone, the unmistakable scent of fear and distress having drawn something from its own hole to the border of the clearing.

Hidden amidst the brush it was watching and waiting for now, letting the large figure it felt such aversion for depart still more. But patience did not come easily to such a small mind, especially with such a feast before it. Mandibles clicking in anticipation and the demon waited for the opportune moment.

* * *

_Somewhere else in Space/Time:_

It was over, Kagome had decided. It felt strange to think and saying it, and when she was alone, it was was harder still. Those adventures, the tragedy she had seen and the triumphs she had taken part in. That was all behind her, and she couldn't feel sadness or relief at the thought.

The final battle with Naraku had truly been epic; terrifying as anything to come out of an old saga. Kagura's death had been herald to it. Seeing Sesshomuru watch over their despised foes end had moved her. There was some regret there Kagome hated the Wind Sorceress; she had killed so many of Kouga's people, but perhaps Kagura had not asked for her role in this anymore than she had.

It all came back to Naraku, had there even been a human or demon so selfish. He was the cause of so much suffering and all just so he could gain still more power. Not just sacrificing innocents who only happened to be in his way, but even tossing aside his own offspring as if their lives meant nothing. Kanna had been the only one truly loyal to him and he had not even acknowledged her as anything more than a tool. Even without his other sins, that unforgivable in Kagome's eyes.

He was gone though, purified and vanquished forever; they had won. Kouga lost an arm; Kikiyo, by Naraku's power, was dragged back into the underworld, apparently to remain there until being reincarnated as Kagome. Kohaku had died again as well, though this time he left smiling, providing Kagome the opening she needed with his last act.

The sacred jewel was shattered again, all of Naraku's and their efforts destroyed. It could have been the start of some new adventure, leaving Naraku and his schemes at their backs.

But it hadn't. Inuyasha had made an end of it all. He took her back through the well and stole her sole fragment of the jewel.

"It's better here. With Naraku gone I doubt anyone could reassemble the jewel anyway. You don't have to end up like Kikiyo did, so long," He had been gruff and to the point. She was angry and sure he would return soon, it wasn't like he could actually live without her.

But it had been three months now, and nothing out of the ordinary had happened to her. She slept in her bed, ate her breakfast, went to school, hanging out with her girlfriends, and went home. Hadn't she wished for this so many times when she found herself fighting for her life?

When exactly had her real life become a novel distraction, and the feudal era become the place she returned too. Stupid Inuyasha!

In her restless boredom with life friends and everything she actually volunteered to help maintain the shrine while her mother and grandfather took Shouta to that new theme park. Had she ever been interested in such things, she found herself wondering?

She was sweeping the stones as usual when her routine was broken by a voice.

"Are you the shrine maiden?" the voice was as strong as a summer wind, menacing with the promise of storm but warm carrying the scent of rain. She turned to find the shrine had a guest. He was clearly a foreigner: far too tall and his skin, while much abused by the sun, looked have been fair once. The top of his head was bare with a ring of short curly white hair springing from above his ears. Though he stood straight and confident in his old fashioned traveling coat he carried a black waling stick by his side, were those thorns studding it? His eyes betrayed some Western stock, a very light brown, which cast a gaze she found herself wanting to break.

Seriously? I have faced down demons and I'm feeling intimidated by some oversized gaijin? _Get it together Kagome_, she thought furiously.

"Welcome to our shrine. No my grandfather is the shrine keeper, I'm just looking after it right now," She told him bowing. Her grandfather did have some hopes for her taking over the shrine, so she knew the basic courtesy.

"That's fine, I'm not here for a blessing or anything like that. Would you mind showing me around? I wouldn't want to stumble into a private area," he asked, inclining his head politely. Though, she realized it could also be too look at her better. Why did some people have to be so tall?

"No problem, though there is not much too see other than the sacred tree and some altars," Kagome admitted. She had never really dealt with people coming to the shrine, it wasn't exactly popular and her grandfather handled it.

"Just as well, it will make matters more timely. Though first I would like to see the well the centipede woman attacked you in. It has a certain interest for me," he told her as he walked past. She blinked looking after him before the idly spoken words sunk in.

"What?" she shouted sending some birds flapping.

"How do you know about that?" Kagome demanded stepping back. She reached for her bow only to remember it wasn't there, suddenly his size seemed far more relevant and his walking stick much heavier.

"Its sufficient for you to know that I know. A youth is pulled through a dimensional or chronal rift and is conscripted into events beyond their understanding. I've seen this a lot. Most of them die actually, but people aren't as prone to talk about those ones," the stranger answered. He walked over to the edge of the well and glanced down, nodding as if approving of the empty vessel. He turned his attention back to her, and she felt his judgment like a weight pressing down on her shoulders.

"This is different though, typically the Dorothy and Pevensei types don't get to come home for the weekend to unwind. You really are fate's spoiled brat," the stranger commented as he climbed back up the stairs.

"Hey!" Kagome objected her anxiety forgotten. She pursued him her anger coming to the forefront, who was he to talk to her that way?

"its true enough, and like a spoiled child the indulgence hurt more than it helped. After all, you did let the petty concerns of your life here affect the grim priorities on the other side. More relevant, it let you avoid acclimating, just like wearing those ridiculous uniforms around feudal Japan. Honestly, a miko robe or slayer gear would have been more practical. Not to mention, make you look less like a whore by the standards of then," he continued.

"Hey I had reasons!" Kagome defended herself. Had he just called her a whore!

"They were more comfortable? An excuse, but not one that justifies. However, we have far more pressing matters to discuss and little time to do so," the stranger commented. Kagome was about to tell him to get out when he bonked her over the head with his stick.

"Ow!" she cried out.

"I know thinking before you speak is not something you practice, but bear in mind you can't make ME sit," he growled, clearly irritated.

Taking a deep breath, Kagome followed after the old man as he approached the sacred tree.

"Alright, you know about me, Inuyasaha and the others. So you know what we've been through," Kagome pointed out.

"We? You actually count yourself in their company, I'm not sure you warrant such inclusiveness." He stopped before, and continued without letting her speak. "Sango lost her entire world in a single day, she was predictably overtaken by vengeance. Less predictably, she remained clear headed enough to realize her true foe when Inuyasaha was branded as a scapegoat. And impressively, she endured all that without sacrificing her soul to the cause of vengeance, like so many. That monk was a disgrace to the idea of piety or poverty, but still turned out alright despite the loss of his father. Perhaps it was the wind tunnel hanging over his head that made him so irreverent, people cope with impending doom in many ways. A rascal certainly, but in the final analysis a good and courageous man despite hardship. That kit lost his father, should have matured him more, but I tend to underestimate innocence. It is a rare commodity in my line of work. He saw you as a mother. Did you see him as a son even once as you returned here to be a daughter again? The demon cat had its own reasons to serve Slayers at the price of exile from its own kind. Whether the reason was worthy of the sacrifice she never wavered in that duty." He turned to her. "So tell me, what have you lost? The father you never knew? The normal life you didn't get to live until now?" the stranger asked. Walking about the tree he studied it intently.

"Inuyasha, he could never chose," Kagome finally admitted.

"Go on," the stranger prompted. He reached up and broke off a branch, she would have objected if there was the remote possibility he would listen.

"If he had chosen Kikiyo, I could have lived with that. But he kept stringing us both along," Kagome continued, regret evident in her voice with a bit of anger too.

"She did do more for him than you ever did, that is true," the stranger agreed.

"Excuse me," Kagome groaned looking at him sideways. She couldn't help but think of all the times she had helped the Hanyou in comparison to the undead miko's plots that hindered them. He smiled an infuriatingly knowing expression; could he read minds? '_Crap he can read minds, can't he?_' Kagome raged in her head.

"The worst dangers are not to the flesh; never have, never will be. He was alone, completely alone after his mothers death. Your life has not taught you what it means to fall asleep knowing if you died before waking, no one would care that you were gone. That likely came closer to killing him than his persecutors. He survived with selfishness and pride to self motivate him to live when no one else cared. Not the best method, but then he can be even more foolish than you." He paused, letting that sink in.

"Kikiyo changed that. She showed him mercy first of all, she a holy miko, sparing a being she was practically obligated to exterminate. Modern sensibilities don't let you understand the gravity of such actions, your perspective is to soft and unbranded by the well deserved prejudice of two races that have fought for ages for the right to continue existing. To clasp over that chasm is a movable emotion far more potent than a silly girl like you killing that wretched spider.

"She took away his loneliness and gave him the hope that his life could be more than it had been. She was first, and she did the most. Even if he loved you, how could he not love her for such a boon? And remember, he survived their tragedy while Kikiyo lost everything; loving her was all he could offer in the face of that loss.

"Perhaps it would be best of you to remain here and not trouble them anymore with your trifles. We have established you are the weak one after all," The stranger explained, cleaning bark from the branch with a knife.

Kagome looked down. It hurt to be talked down to, and the man was right on every point. She was a weakling that pushed her way into other people's business. She didn't know what they went through, or the suffering they endured.

Kagome clenched her fist.

What did all that mean? All the adventures they had meant nothing? No, they had been through their own hardships. Endured their own suffering and defeat, happiness and victory. When they took down Naraku, they did it together.

"You're crying," the old man stated. There was no mockery or edge this time, simply a statement of fact.

"For all that to call you irrelevant would be false. Even if by no virtue of your own you forced Inuyasha to move on. If not for you the dog and the monk would never have joined forces. He would have left that kit behind too, without a second thought. And perhaps it was you that kept the woman sane long enough for matters to move past lechery into something more?

"The rope that binds a bundle together is not the same as the sticks, but it is still part of the bundle," the stranger elaborated.

Kagome should have smiled at this acknowledgment, but she felt like crawling under a rock. It felt like he was tossing her a bone. After making it clear she was a burden he then claims she has value, what kind of sick game was this?

"Well its all pointless now anyway," she managed at last with a bit more than a sob. The stranger looked up from his stick asking the question without speaking.

"I'm stuck. It's over and done with. There's nothing left but this era; whether I like it or not," she cried. She hated that she was crying, it wasn't that it proved his point to him, rather it showed her that she believed it.

"You're not," he commented tucking his Sakura stake into a coat pocket.

"Huh?" she asked, turning back to him. Reaching into another his coat pocket, he pulled out a green sphere about the size of a ping pong ball. It looked like glass but she somehow knew it was crystal, glowing with a faint inner light.

"This is your passage back through the well if you want it. But this is quite different from that other jewel. Make the passage with 'this' and the way will be ripped apart behind you. No returning from there to here. Ever," he declared. With that last word he tossed the crystal underhand, she squeaked as she scrambled to catch it. Finally closing both her hands over it, it was warm.

"You, you think I need to go back?" she stuttered. For the moment the permanence was not sinking in, only the possibility of the divide being closed.

"Not really, it might be best for you to stay here," he commented walking past her. Now her eye started to twitch some.

"If you want me to stay then why bother with all of this? Did you just want to make me depressed?" she demanded without vigor.

"You were already depressed, I just dragged it out of you. You get so wrapped up in yourself you can't see clearly for all the melodrama. I am here by duty not choice, frankly it is because of that hanyou I have to come here and offer you what he denied you."

"There is a world of difference between letting go, and having it taken away. It could simply be that to live as you are meant to in this world you have to do so by your choosing rather than Inuyasha's will.

"Perhaps choosing to remain here, tomorrow you will buy a bottle of sake to get drunk off the misery of irrevocable losing the only way to catch sight of Inuyasha's reincarnation purchasing his own spirits, cue reunion post-mortem with all the sentimental candy floss of a happily ever after," the stranger dead panned.

"Wait, so you want me to stay here? Make up your mind old man!" Kagome shrieked. This guy had stepped on her last nerves so now he was working the brain apparently.

"All I want is for you to choose. It could be things will turn out badly for you, whichever you choose. I exist to be fair, but life is not obligated to turn out as we would like it. Well you have your crystal and some questions to muse over. It is a bit less than an hour before it expires now. Good luck brat," The stranger stated. They had arrived at the shrine entrance and he started to descend.

"Wait! Where are you going!" she called out. He stopped but didn't turn.

"I'm quite busy and my job here is done. I have no further obligation to you or either world now. Thanks for not making a fuss over the sacred stake though. It will come in quite handy tracking down a certain heroic brat," the stranger stated. Then he lifted his walking stick, and was gone. No flash no swirl of wind, or even a pop; the warm sphere in her hand the only proof her had been there at all.

Looking down at the soft magical light, Kagome was afraid. It was her choice and no one else's now. She really hoped if she met that guy again, she could put an arrow in his ass!

**

* * *

**

AN:

_Well there is another chapter come and gone. Was hoping I could work in Kanna, but Kagome in her usual high pitched manner demanded attention. Well the pilots are all together so now the fun can really start! I have plans come out the keester for these two cliques of chaos!_

Until next time, please review.


	4. Revelations

Disclaimer: I own neither Inuyasha or Neon Genesis Evangelion. So don't sue becuase there is no money in this anyway.

_Beta'd by Snipa_

* * *

Chapter III

Revelations

Rei was contemplating the sky again when she heard it. Increasingly, since Rei woke up, her attention had been drawn upward, accompanied by a twinge in her new muscles. This was moderately distressing as new urges combined with growing adeptness with her altered body implied changes to her brain and mental functions.

She had shoved such unusable thoughts aside to instead focus on finding food or water. Her excellent memory seemed to have served her well when she recognized an edible plant from a field guide she had read long ago. Hunger getting the better of her, another unusual occurrence, Rei had ripped the tubers from the ground with her talons and consumed them without even knocking off the dirt.

And then promptly vomited them back up as her stomach seemed to clench. Her next encounter with edibles had been tamer, cleaning and inspecting the roots. The bite felt awkward in her mouth and seemed to crawl down her esophagus before the stomach kicked it back up.

Her stomach growled and so did Rei. She didn't bother to get shocked at her reaction: she was confused, hungry and seemingly in charge of her eternally malfunctioning colleagues and she couldn't even eat with food in front of her now. Logically, she was due for a growl.

Pondering whether to head back and see if the others could keep the food down or press on to try and find water to quench thirst, another complaint, Rei's eyes strayed back to the blue yonder.

Then Asuka screamed.

* * *

Asuka wasn't in the habit of feeling sorry for herself. Mainly because when she let depression get a grip on her it lead to self destructive behavior. She was aware of this, but like an addict despite being fully aware of the danger and wanting to get rid of it, she had never been able to get around to it.

The former pilot was vaguely aware of what happened after her zero sync, returning to find her only friends house in ruin she's let go of her finger tip grip on sanity and self preservation. She got into an empty tub naked and waited to die. A broken empty house seemed a fitting place to end her life at the time; it did reflect her life after all.

She supposed they found her at some point. Someone sent a memo after noticing she was gone and it eventually became an order to find her. Just in time to keep her from expiring from exposure apparently. And putting her right where Shinji could use her as inspiration for what was likely the losers first number three!

Or had that last part been a dream. Gott, why did she always have trouble defining reality from nightmares? So much of her life, like college, was in focus but like a movie she had watched to many times instead of her own life. Had she actually gone to college or was that a lie she made up that NERV ran with because her delusions made her more effective?

This was real, this horrible monstrous body she was trapped in. It made her want to laugh or cry. Her body was messed up beyond recognition to the point she was wishing for the respectable wheelchair she was terrified of earlier. Yet there was a sensibility to it all that went against everything she had felt since the light raped her.

That moment, sitting on the pavement, more defeated than if she had been wrapped in bandages. They had cordoned her off with yellow tape. She was a biohazard to them, even after their precious Shinji was _eaten_ by his Eva he had never been left to sit and wait inside such a humiliating set up! That was it really, after that it was no more elite pilot, just a spent battery to squeeze a few more watts out of before being discarded.

No she was sober and rational even, so she believed. Or did that just mean she had gone so far round the bend she had stopped having doubts and was at peace with insanity?

Now she did laugh, wouldn't it just be perfect if after all this time of seeking perfection with every fiber of her being that she would find contentment in being broken in mind and warped in body. Dear God, where is the emergency exit?

Her laughing certainly caught something's attention. She heard the brush by the clearing edge explode before she turned and raised her arms over her face as a giant centipede came at her like a shot.

She could not run; her stupid body could only flail the centipedes legs clicking against her scales like stone metal. The monstrous insect copper colored crawled up her length undeterred by her thrashing its mandibles clicking and antenna waving in the air. It was the front two legs that broke through as it came to her upper body and punched two holes through the finer scales on her torso.

This was a cry of pain, not lessened in the least as she grabbed it pincers in her hands. The damn thing was trying to bite her head off! The only thing stopping it was her holding it back by the clippers that were flailing about trying to shake her off as she was force onto her back.

"Not again, not again!" Asuka shrieked. Her cries were angry and terrified with a drop of high pitched pain as its forelegs dug further into her while the 98 other wrapped around her in a grip. Neither anticipated what happened next, steam rose from Asuka unnoticed until a queer sweet smell reached her nose. It struck her as yet another absurdity, or perhaps the centipede trying to poison her.

The second was closer to the mark, but pointing in the wrong direction. The near transparent orange liquid seeped through her scales, evaporating almost instantly into white steam. The centipede was undaunted by the steam, but as the liquid itself seeped into its exoskeleton dying it purple as it broke down, the bug shrieked and pulled back with all its might. Both sides lost their grip as the centipede fell sideways flailing briefly on its back, while Asuka looked on in alarm at the monster. Trying to push herself up as if that would help she heard a hissing sound and looked down to see the grass wither and blacken around her hands, which were coated in some liquid.

The centipede righted itself, testing its pincers with a click, discolored but not as badly injured as the legs. Its tiny mind recognized poison, but it was not usually a problem, this prey may not be worth having if its poison actually affected it.

A roar split the air as something massive and purple figure landed with a boom between predator and prey. Shinji had landed clumsily, the last leap over done and ill conceived. Dirt fell from his legs and forearms along with uprooted grass as he rose. His limbs' cry of protest fell on deaf ears as he faced what had dared violate one he protected.

The centipede was stunned by the hostility emanating from the interloper. Instinct governed its reaction, mandibles pulled back to cleave, it charged aiming for Shinji's head. With deceptive ease, Shinji grabbed the mandibles in his hands and the mass of the demon slammed into him as he halted its advance.

Asuka was stunned into silence watching the strange fight. It actually reminded her of the footage of Angel battles, a bit. But this feeling in the air, it was utterly terrifying, it made her want to bury herself until both combatants were gone!

The centipede thrashed in his grip, but his arms never budged a centimeter. Out of desperation it coiled around him, sinking its legs into whatever flesh it found and scrapping against purple metal.

The site of orange blood running down Shinji's form jogged Asuka's mind from its lapse at his arrival.

"Don't just stand there baka! Get rid of it!" Asuka shouted. With a pair of jerks, Shinji ripped the mandibles out of the centipede's head. It shrieked and thrashed in agony, before he punched its bobbing head; the exoskeleton cracking under the force. The head fell to the ground with a flop. Shinji reached down where it was still coiled about his waist, and with a heave ripped it in half letting the pieces all to the ground with apathy.

The centipede gave a pathetic last chirp before a metal encased foot plunged through its head digging into the ground beneath.

"Mein Gott," Asuka swore. There was no way, this was beyond the impossible. Then Rei swooped out of the sky wind ruffling the field as she alighted on the ground her magnificent wings folding up again.

"Oh of course, why not!"" Asuka screamed at Ayanami as the red eyed girl looked at her in puzzlement.

* * *

The fire crackled in their midst casting their camp into dancing shadows. If you could call it a camp, after the attack they had left Asuka's clearing for this new space Rei had found from the air. It was a lot smaller and even at the center the trees seemed to press closer in their silent ranks. The fire was the center started by Asuka with some sticks and friction, the serpent girl and the bird woman sat near the fire for light and warmth while Shinji stood back in the shadows, enigmatic as when he had first joined them. Flies buzzed around the remains of the boar Shinji had brought back earlier, which was crudely roasted on the fire; it had sated the girls' hunger despite disgust on both their parts.

Time and sustenance now calmed attitudes enough that both knew it was time to seriously discuss matters. It was just a matter of who would do it. Asuka would normally be quite willing to fill the silence with her own voice, but her mind kept straying back to the centipede and beyond.

Disturbing didn't cover it; her last death had at least been after an epic battle with her only mistake being ignorance of her enemies' ability to cheat death. This time she had been helpless, and she would have been bug food had she not been rescued. Being the damsel in distress would have sent her into fits, but right now the most she could muter was annoyance. Then there was the poison... _her_ poison. She had already checked her mouth and felt her canines to be a bit longer and her molars quite a bit smaller.

However, that was all second fiddle to what she had seen in the clearing. It called back images of Unit One emerging from the Sea of Dirac, ripping its way out of the Angels body like a demon spawn from its mother's womb. Blood spattered and roaring a wordless defiance to the world it had scared her more than any angel she had ever encountered. It was on that day she had first truly begun to suspect that there was more to Eva than she had been told.

Oh, she had always known her prize steed was exceptional, beyond all that came before. It was, after all, the thing she had sold her life too even after her mother's encouragement was silenced by a noose. But even so, she had seen it like a progression of tanks being replaced by air power, catapults by artillery, or sword by guns; more complex by far and exponentially more powerful, but still a tool with no intent beyond that of the person who wields it. It was her doll, and possessing it proved she, the great Second Child, was not one.

But that was not Shinji that day, it was no human that conquered such certain death to return to the world in a grotesque and horrifying parody of birth. Unit One, it had saved him, possibly them, and in doing so proved it was not just a tool. And that if that was true of Unit Two, was Asuka its doll?

"We need to talk," Rei stated jolting her companion out of her downward spiral of thought.

"What's on your mind chicken legs," Asuka asked with an annoyed tone.

"Wherever we are, it is dangerous, you must become mobile, or we will be crippled as a unit," Rei answered. It was true Shinji had carried her here and Rei had remained with her while Shinji hunted the boar.

"Well, I guess I'll just have to hurry up and grow a new pair of legs!" Asuka fumed.

"You are the only one who is not able to use their body properly," Rei pointed out.

"Are you saying this is my own fault?" Asuka demanded sitting up.

"Yes, instinct taught me to fly and presumably Pilot Ikari how to fight. You are blocking your instincts as you did with Eva. With similar results," Rei deadpanned. Asuka huffed up, but then deflated giving the avian girl an exasperated look.

"You seem to have grown an attitude to go with those feathers," Asuka declared grumpily.

"I know, it is quite odd," Rei answered looking down as if ashamed. For some reason Asuka found this hilarious, and fell back to the ground laughing as she pressed a hand to her forehead. Rei shook her head at the display, as ever the Second Child made no sense to her.

"Perhaps if we caught a snake you could observe it and learn how to move?" Rei suggested hoping for some rational response.

"Whatever, but watch out for him," Asuka answered calming herself.

"Who?" Rei asked.

"The only 'him'! You seem to have changed inside as well as out Wonder Girl. Well how much of that thing do you think is the baka, and how much is the weapon that rips apart and eats Angels?" Asuka warned gravely.

Neither of them got much sleep that night, even with the silent sentry looming over them.

* * *

Kanna sat and waited to die.

Nothing that was all she had ever been. The void within Naraku had been made flesh in her just as her sister had manifested the desire for freedom even he had held inside. Kanna had not expected to live long; they had been the first parts of himself to be ripped off and he was not shy about disposing of his incarnations. She had mostly survived because she was the only one to not be tainted by the treachery that pervaded every other aspect of Naraku. He could trust her because she did not care enough to betray him.

Kanna, the first and last of the incarnations of Naraku. She had come from nothing and lived knowing she would return to nothing; which made her nothing.

How she had envied Kagura, though doomed like her the Wind Rider had never conceded to their fate. Her road had been far more difficult than Kanna's path of muted submission, but it had more resembled a life by far. And her sister had gotten her wish, Kagura had been free at the end of her life, and died in the presence to the closest one she had come to loving. It was a tragic death, but a good death; if you believe in such a thing.

Kanna had faced her own death as she had everything else: with resignation. True, even she had held some desire for self preservation as Naraku's enemies shattered her piece by piece. They had even pitied her at the end, and that was such a puzzlement she couldn't begin to understand why they would.

Death came regardless, but she was not given what had been promised.

There was no oblivion, no return to the state of nonexistence beyond joy or despair she had been raised from. There was darkness and emptiness, but still she existed.

Kanna did not know how long she had been there; if there is no way to mark the passage of time can you even be sure it is flowing forward? It could flow back, rise upward, or fall down in a spiral or deluge. Worse yet time may not move at all, a single moment stretched out for an infinity that was neither beginning nor ending.

Only one thing was certain in the darkness that laid beyond her death, and that was that she existed.

Compared to this fact that shook the foundations of her soul, what came next was nothing more than a mere surprise. The puzzling ascension, the recalling from darkness and death, back to life and light.

Kanna, again, felt the pain of being shattered. She was certain it went beyond the troubles of mortal injuries. From across the winds and mountains shards the size of a grain of sand gathered about in the empty frame of her mirror, and rejoining seamlessly into a whole. Her left hand was the fist to return, from the tips of her fingers on the frame she grew back as the mirror filled, an errant shard of the sacred jewel gleaming within the frame as it called her back.

Yet the shards have limits and its power reached its zenith while the mirror was still incomplete. When Kanna opened her black eyes once more she looked over to see only sharp cracked edges on her right shoulder where her other arm should have begun.

The land was silent, the battle long won and lost by the respective sides. Naraku was dead and the jewel shards scattered once again. How she could live while Naraku was dead puzzled her slightly more than how a shard had fallen close enough to resurrect her but not be claimed by the victors.

She laid there, bare to the world and unmoving for four days contemplating her death and resurrection. On the fifth day, she decided to start walking.

By the seventh day, she decided her last decision had been a mistake. She now possessed a jewel shard and was weaker than ever before, her body and power incomplete. Kanna was as blood spilled upon the ocean's waters, and now the sharks came to reap her. For it remained a constant that even a shard of the sacred jewel was the ultimate prize for demons, and who among them would pass the chance to claim it from such a weak keeper?

To lose the shard was to lose her life, and for the moment that was something she was unwilling to give up. So it had been a matter of flight to avoid fight. Kanna had surprised herself with the means she had to flee when motivated. In her former life there had never been the need or motive to push herself to her limits when it came to avoiding harm.

But how long had she been running now?

The moon pale girl was exhausted and tormented by the pain of her missing arm. And then there was the question of motive once more. She had chosen to run because she wanted to live rather than return to the state of death she had discovered. Oblivion was one thing she had long reconciled herself too, but that had been... unpleasant.

Yet this was worse. How far had she fled with no sleep and the barest feeding? Exhaustion had made her skin as frail as a mortals; her nakedness cut so many times by demons and the landscape, and blisters burst on her feet.

Her running was without destination, there was no plan or purpose. Self preservation was not enough to justify the pain of being alive. So she stopped and sat in a meadow, resting and waiting for the one that would end her life for the second time.

The rustling of the trees indicated she would not have to wait much longer. Sure enough a demon emerged; an armored boar with glowing red eyes, an iron club dangling from his belt. Those eyes narrowed as he saw her sitting amidst the grass; sniffing the air inquisitively he did not advance.

This annoyed Kanna, and then she realized he thought some trap was set. Surely, he thought, no great prize as a jewel shard would be gained so easily. This demon was naïve; he was welcome to its power in her mind.

The boar would regret his hesitation for the rest of his life, for just as he hefted his club to face whatever formidable challenge a jewel bearer had to offer the matter was taken from his hands. A demon fell from the sky and dove on the girl like a hawk unto a mouse, with a flapping of white wings the demon girl and the shard were lifted into the sky.

He could only stand stunned and amazed at his misfortune as another reaped of his reward.

* * *

"Why would you grab a kid?" Asuka asked with mild exasperation, tinged by hints of genuine curiousity. The two demonesses sat around the fire while Shinji loomed in the shadows. Rei sat on her haunches observing Kanna who stood before her looking her over as well. Asuka was reclining on her coils apparently relaxd.

"She was about to be killed by a boar creature, her name is Kanna," Rei answered.

"Huh, being the hero eh. Could you get some clothes on her, naked kid is creepy, and perverted," Asuka snorted, shooting a look to the shadow watching over them.

"We have no clothes Pilot Sorhyuu," Rei answered.

"Yeah and you're a passionate nudist to boot. Well you may have coverage with those freak feathers but I can see that kid is shivering from here," Asuka stated. Rei realized the loud pilot was right, while the meat she had given the girl had lead to her balance and posture improving, she was still shivering. Moving her closer to the fire was hazardous but there were no garments to be used.

A flash of inspiration present a solution. Rei gestured Kanna to come closer and was obliged. With one of her wings Rei drew the girl close, the feathers and pale skin matching. Settling down, Rei tucked Kanna under her wing and next to her thigh. That should keep her warm, she decided.

Asuka took in the sight with a look of unnerved resignation while Shinji gave no discernible reaction.

Asuka spat on the blue horned, thing, Shinji had just killed, her spit not affecting something that was already dead. Glancing over to Rei, she saw the bird girl had already put her doll down and was inspecting the creature's sword embedded in a tree. This was the first time they had met anything remotely civilized since their arrival. Granted she'd classed it as a barbarian, but crude armor and a genuine sword don't just grow on trees.

"Am I the only one seeing a pattern here?" Asuka demanded as she slithered up to the two pale girls. While studying a snake had helped her regain mobility it was a very bitter victory. The undulations of her tail were foreign and strange, and she wanted it to stay that way. Unlike the other two she was not about to let go of humanity easily. Though it was nice that she could make herself taller than Rei.

"Yes, the monsters have been increasingly complex. The last one talked and this one actually had equipment," Rei answered promptly. She had given up trying to pull the oversized sword free and was tapping its blade with her knuckles.

"True, but after the bug we didn't really see anything unusual for days, now we're lucky if we get by a day without something attacking. So this leads me to wonder, what has changed?" Asuka stated rhetorically. Her slitted blue eyes fell on Kanna, the girl, held her broken mirror closer as if in protection. The tension was dissipated before it began to build by a white wing extending and blocking Kanna from the red serpent's sight.

"Kanna is with us," Rei answered. It was an answer to Asuka's question, but the tone made it clear there was another meaning.

"Really, cause all she's done is eat our food and draw trouble. She's a local we should be getting intel from her on what's going on. Are there people here or just gaggles of freaks like that?" Asuka demanded pointing to the dead demon. To both pilots surprise, Kanna stepped around the wing and lifted her head to speak to Asuka.

"Demons are not the sole species. Humans are quite common, but this region has become wilderness from the wars and the demon population increasing," Kanna told them both. Asuka blinked in shock that was the most she had heard from the black eyed albino.

"Pilot Sorhyuu you complain about her not contributing, but you have done little to aid us since regaining your mobility," Rei pointed out. Asuka whirled to glare at the First Child; her impertinence was more irritating because she realized it was true. Shinji hunted and fought while Rei could scout from the air. Asuka started the fires and cooked the meat. She was no company cook, she was an elite pilot!

"Fine! You want me to pull my weight, I'll bring back dinner! You stay put Baka, I don't need your help bagging a doe," Asuka shouted to her companions as she slithered into the woods.

* * *

_Later:_

The sun was setting, and still no game. The best she had done was catch a bird she had snatched off a branch without even meaning too. She had thrown it away, not liking her urge to swallow it right there and then. But come on! Where was the real game, she was smarter than the brain dead Shinji, she should be swimming in a herd of deer, a boar sounder, anything! But instead she was turning up nothing and it was sunset.

At least getting lost was no worry, she hated to admit it but her sense of smell had spiked, she could follow her own scent back even without the trail she was leaving. She sighed, enhanced senses was no fair price for her predicament, particularly when it was leading her to another failure.

No, she couldn't afford to start thinking like that, if you didn't believe in yourself no one would. An old mantra of hers which rang hollow now as if it was taken from another life, most likely because it was. Asuka paused, letting her torso descend to a more natural height as her body settled to the ground.

It was happening again, she was being left in the dust by someone she could not see as superior to herself in any way. Asuka saw nothing vain about her attitudes, vanity was thinking you were the best, it didn't apply when you actually were, that was just honest pride. She had worked hard for years to gain the top slot, not to be dethroned by a prodigy who didn't even appreciate the talent.

Oh it wasn't like she had no empathy for Shinji; he was a conscript in over his head whereas she was a volunteer who had known more or less what she was getting into. But he was so ****** pathetic! He was worse than those women who cry about the sleazeballs they crawl back to just as they do nothing to improve their situation. The only thing he had ever done that she had admired was threatening his father after the incident with Toji. She would have done the same thing if for different reasons.

While her first reaction to unpleasant developments was acting to either change them or twist her perception to avoid acknowledging the problem, Shinji was like a turtle going into its shell and hoping he was still alive when it was done. Why the hell didn't he turn into some turtle monster?

If anyone should have been graced with a portion of Evas power it should have been her! But no, instead she was degraded to a snake in the grass!

Speaking of which, she scowled as she realized her tail had coiled around her loosely at some point. What's more, she was killing the undergrowth with poison again.

Wonder Girl didn't seem to have this problem; when would she start molting or something? Or better yet, fly south for the winter.

A growling stomach reminded Asuka why she was out here. The sun was down and still no food, at this rate she would have to bunk down in the woods. After all, she couldn't admit defeat so easily; especially to that lot back at the camp.

The thought that passed through her mind eliciting a small smile as a half moon began to rise beyond the trees.

Her course set, Asuka straightened herself out and began to slither through the woods leaving a twisting trail in her wake. While she could feels roots and branches beneath her 'belly?' it wasn't uncomfortable. It struck her as quite odd that she could be padded well enough to avoid discomfort but still feel so effectively. The scales she decided where as nerveless as they should be, but the flesh below was sensitive enough to pick up the contact by extension. She liked it when things added up; she was an ace at engineering after all.

"I guess at some point, I wanted to build things instead," she murmured before frowning. Where had that come from? Piloting Eva and the fame it would bring her after the war had always been the peak of her ambition, everything she did had served that goal.

"Which is why when you lost it, you fell apart, you left nothing for yourself," an errant little voice taunted from some walled off portion of her mind. For good or ill, she didn't hear it. But the crack she did hear.

Asuka twisted around at the sound, her eyes scanning the forest for the source. At first, it was elation she felt thinking she had finally stumbled on some quarry, then recalling the monsters she realized she might be someone else's quarry. Fortunately she was distracted from both disappointment and fear by disgust, namely the fact that her torso and the part of her body immediately attached to it had twisted around, letting her view the greater portion of herself resting on the forest floor.

After glaring at her posterior, Asuka turned back and began to slither once more when she heard another crack. This time she stopped and listened. When she moved again her tail was stiff. In less than a minute the appendage was numb and she found herself falling to her face.

"What the hell?" she cried. She had figured this thing out and now it was breaking down like Italian engineering?

Another crack and now her neck itched. Great, can you even scratch scales? Reaching back without bothering to get back up She touched the scale on the pack of her neck, and felt them press down on irritated skin. Stunned, her fingers still found their way into a new seam, one between the skin on her neck and her scales. It ripped with a jerk, the long cracked line running down her back finally giving way.

She was silent throughout the process, fearful, as if a word would shatter the scene. After her shoulders were free her arms followed, sticky but soft and unblemished skin cast in the pale moonlight. More cracking followed the twisting, jerking, and levering that ended with her rear merging followed by a pair of legs as she dragged herself from the crimson scales.

Under the shadows of the tree Asuka looked down on her legs and stared at her toes. For the first time in so long the tears she shed were not followed by shame.

In movies and the like, people in situations such as this tend to wiggle their toes or something. While that would have been more theatric, Asuka for once wasn't concerning herself with appearances; she grabbed her knee caps, wrapping her hand about the bone and joint.

She felt it both ways, they were real.

She had legs.

SHE HAD HER LEGS!

Asuka crowed there was no other word to quite capture the primal wordless exclamation of joy. She hugged the limbs to her in what resembled a fetal position still weeping for joy, the hated husk forgotten behind her.

She stayed like that for a time, but even more so than with despair one must come back to reality from elation. Sitting under the trees she spread her legs out in front of her and decided to stand.

So she did, much to her surprise. After the ordeal of learning to crawl like a lowly snake, she had expected bipedal locomotion to come with some difficulty. These concerns were cast aside before they became worries. After all, it was only natural that she of all people would be quick on the draw.

With that issue "settled", Asuka set off back down her path to tell the others the good news. She failed to realize that while she had blazed a trail, her feet were bare, and unlike the tail she had so loathed, they were not able to shrug off a broken stick.

Asuka hadn't been stomping, but she was still giddy enough she didn't notice the resistance until her weight had come down on her foot against the torn wood. Thus driving several large splinters into her tender new flesh.

She cried out in pain and started hopping on one foot while clutching the injured one. Not the best of ideas; while her body was adapting remarkably well to the conversion, hopping on one foot on uneven terrain is not well advised. She soon tumbled scrapping her side on roots and debris as she tumbled down a mild slope.

Cursing a storm when she finally righted herself, she set to yanking the remnants of wood from her foot for further discomfort. Her foot still throbbing she nonetheless ascended the slope minding her steps far more carefully. Too carefully as it turned out, Asuka realized she had been walking too long and had passed the path. The mistake was sealed by turning around and glancing about for some hint of direction, and thus losing any reference to the way she had come from.

The Great Asuka Langley Sorhyuu, lost, alone, and naked in a forest she knew for a fact had monsters lurking in it.

'Shit,' she thought as the realization sank in.

Setting out into the woods, she had never considered getting lost. Even if her mutant body didn't leave a trail she could always following the scents back. But with her humanity restored, she had neither option left; she was well and truly lost.

"Well so what? Who wants to get back to those two freaks anyway, I don't need them anymore," Asuka announced to herself. With a nod of self-admiration, Asuka dismissed her former comrades and started walking, she would figure something out; she always did after all.

Her brittle confidence held for about half an hour when she reached a meadow. It seemed she had reached the edge of the forest. With a smirk of triumph, she stepped out of the shadows of the trees and into the moonlight. The wind that kicked up gave her goosebumps.

"Okay, next order of business, clothes," Asuka declared trying to warm herself up. The she glanced to her right as she heard something. Freezing she watched the spot she was sure the noise had come from.

Nothing, of course it was nothing. After all why would the monsters bother her now that she would be so much easier to kill and eat? Not to mention she was alone.

...

She felt rather exposed all of a sudden. The rabbit's next movement in the grass sent her sprinting back to the trees.

* * *

Asuka awoke to predawn, the sky beginning to lighten up as she crawled out of the tree hollow she had tried to sleep in. Her initial thought had been to shelter in the branches out of reach, but going down had somehow seemed safer.

Asuka was quite ashamed of her panic attack last night, all that time wasted over what seemed nothing with the sense that the coming light brought. What's more, her stomach growled in discontent as her skin itched. She frowned the only part of her not to itch was her legs, she blamed it on the elements and whatever bugs she had shared the tree with.

The last of the light of the half moon, already a ghost vanished from the sky.

Asuka growled at the itching as she scratched the worst spot, her lower back. She must have been a bug buffet during the night. Well, she supposed it was to be expected for traipsing through the wilderness in the buff. Bug spray occupied the second place slot on her list after clothes.

Her listing of grievances was interrupted as her finger nails dug in to scratch the irritated flesh of her back, but rather than scratching she felt them rip. She whipped the offending hand around and stared in shock at the bits of pale skin dangling from her finger nails. Reflexively, she slapped her back to stem the blood from the cut only to find it quite dry.

Frowning at the paradox her hands explored the increasingly irritated skin and found the gouges left by her fingernails. There was no blood, but tapping the spot she felt something hard and dry. Her heart sinking, she tested the edges, and another piece of her skin fell away revealing to her hands still more dry hardness; A pattern she could almost visualize.

"Nein," she whimpered. Her body felt like it was on fire; the feeling spreading out rapidly from the base of her spine only sparing her legs. It was agony; whatever logical voice she had in her head was drowned out by a need to escape the searing heat that was roasting her. Some instinct had her grip her stomach and with her fingers together rip across her torso tearing away hunks of pale flesh to reveal scarlet scales shimmering beneath as the heat rose released from them.

Shuddering at the relief she lost herself in the act, Asuka frantically set to the task of ripping and tearing away the recently coveted skin to uncover the scales burning beneath. Almost complete with that task Asuka shrieked as her spine exploded from her back coated in scales. It grew rapidly, expanding all the while. With a sick squelching a seam appeared at the top of her thighs and in a spray of blood that quickly subsided her legs fell away in the face of the rapidly expanding tail.

The girl whimpered at the tail finally halted having consumed her waist and returned to its former glory. The whole process took roughly twenty seconds for the girl to become a snake creature once again. Asuka watched through bleary eyes as her legs turned gray and shriveled on the forest floor. In a little more than a minute they crumbled to dust as if they never were. Discarded near transparent skin and bloodstains on the forest floor were the only proof she had ever been more than what she was now.

It was too cruel, she decided, and she laid there quite willing to let whatever found her end it. As usual, the universe was unwilling to cooperate her, after some hours of lying alone and unmoving, a lumbering sound heralded Shinji's arrival. She said nothing and nor did she move; he must have presumed her injured when she didn't rise because he picked her and turned back the way he came.

This time the red haired serpent made no resistance, would there have been a point anyway?

* * *

Rei was coming to realize many things lately. Oddly enough her new found knowledge could be labeled as human experience as she was forced to interact with people in a framework besides NERV to gain this insight. For example, she had known why the Evas would be moved to battle: to protect their children. But, as with so many matters regarding people, she had never been given or sought the answers to the why behind such matters.

She believed that with Kanna she was beginning to understand that one. Despite the low practical value of the girl Rei was unwilling to let Kanna long out of her sight and would interfere with the Second Child if her activities involved Rei. Even though said interference provoked the ire of the usually ill tempered Second causing problems. It was illogical, but somehow not truly aggravating.

Right now, it was another mystery she coming to terms with; namely the strange tendency for those in authority despite displaying and possessing the admirable abilities to lead invariably possessing abnormalities in their behavior that ran counter to such abilities. She was concluding it was a mutation/adaptation of the mind to cope with having to try and fail to instill order and reason on your subordinates.

"This is not a good idea," Rei reiterated for the fifth time to the Second Child.

She theorized that, like Shinji, the Second had reverted too her human form several nights ago only to regain the new form with dawn. Kanna informed her that this meant they were part human still. Rei guessed her own lack of such a transformation was that she had not been fully human to begin with.

With Shinji, it had been interesting to observe, but he had taken it in the same stride as everything else since arrival. The lack of reaction was either very good or very bad; she had been unable to decide. Mainly, Rei was unwilling to reach a conclusion, because the Second's change had undeniably been bad.

The Second Child, after being retrieved by Ikari, had been unresponsive to anything, even Kanna bringing her a dead rabbit for lunch had failed to illicit a positive or, more likely, negative reaction.

That had changed with the first attack; this time it was by a large gray mannish thing with large teeth and a horn on its brow. The Second had been the closest and had actually moved to attack it. And what's more, she had yelled for them to stay out of the fight. She had been clumsy but brutal. In the end, she managed to somehow coil about the creature and crush it with her tail until most of its bones broke or her poison seeped into it leading to its demise.

This same behavior had continued, and Rei was uncertain how long the Second could last at this rate. One of her eyes was still swollen shut from a club hit, and there had been other injuries that seemed to have healed but had spoken of the recklessness of the fights. If not for the Second's natural armor and poison advantage, Rei would predict her to have died by now.

A part of her saw this as acceptable, the Second's demise would simplify the groups operating, and no one would be mocking Kanna then. But another part insisted that she do something to prevent such a loss.

At this moment it was a considerable effort not to heed the first voice.

"Wonder Girl, I told you what I'm doing to be polite, not asking permission. You should appreciate your good fortune that I'm considerate instead of trying to be something you're not," Asuka remarked glancing back over her shoulder at Rei. Rei had never considered herself to have much in the way of good fortune, but then she didn't really understand the concept beyond comments dropped by other people. However, the bird girl didn't know that the Second Child was, in fact, being rude instead.

Others might have lamented that they should have seen this coming. Not Rei. What was happening, well she didn't have the words to properly express how she felt bout it. The winged girl remained steadfast in her belief that it was reasonable to expect some form of reason from the Second Child. Not this . . .

"You cannot go shopping Second Child," Rei repeated. This was not seen as an order by Rei, but rather a declaration of a self-evident fact. Her reptilian companion chose to interpret it differently.

The road they had found then was old and worn. Well rather while it was not to worn, it was clearly not used much without being abandoned, a path with wagon ruts worked in really. Asuka had voiced a desire to follow it, and they had nothing else to do. So why no, Rei had decided? Had Asuka been planning this even then?

In due course, the road brought them into the mountains and through a pass into a box valley filled with woodlands and a hilly pastureland containing a village. Nothing impressive, it was probably a backwater by anyone's standards: fields, a meek reservoir radiating out from a collection of huts, and a watch tower.

"I'm going to get some clothes," the Second Child let her bombshell drop with all the casualness of announcing a pretty day. This had led to the current situation.

"You have no money to purchase with, and your appearance may cause alarm," Rei explained. Kanna sat off to the side watching with interest, though her expression didn't give it away. Shinji simply loomed in the background ambivalent or apathetic to the argument, perhaps both. Asuka answered without turning to actually face Rei.

"You and the others may be content to parade around in your birthday suits, but some of us have standards, better known as decency. I know you are shameless, but the kid is just disgraceful, who knows what hentai thoughts the jolly purple giant gets," Asuka ranted pointing a thumb at Shinji. Kanna turned to look at him with a puzzled frown; the more the hebi hanyou talked, the less sense it made.

"So I'll tell you what, in addition to getting started on a new wardrobe I'll grab some brat clothes so you can play dress up with your doll," Asuka stared with a high and mighty tone. Tired of the argument she started to slither down hill, unaware of flapping wings behind her. Rei's kick hit her square in the back of the head. Had she been human it would have sent her tumbling, but the muscles in her body easily arrested her forward movement and let her whirl around to face the attacker.

Her eyes widened as Rei flapped slightly above her talons raised, and looked down with a clear frown and a light in her eyes Asuka had never seen. The former pilot of Unit Two recalled now that snakes were hunted by birds.

"You can do as you please, but you may not call Kanna that," Rei told her in too calm a tone. Ashamed of what she was feeling Asuka huffed and resumed her descent at a markedly quicker pace.

* * *

It was roughly two hours before the Second returned to the place they had set up camp, in the forests that dominated much of the valley and swept up into the mountains. The three other members of their band had already eaten, and Rei was cleaning up Kanna. The girl was not a messy eater, but she didn't care enough to keep herself tidy when blood from a meal got all over her face. Lacking water and cloth at hand, Rei was spitting on a clump of leaves and using that to clean the child. Kanna who had calmly stood her ground while Inuyasha shattered her piece by piece, had to resist the urge to bolt from _this_ attention. Luck was with the girl for once as she sensed a means for escape via distraction.

"The Second has returned," Kanna told Rei, having never actually heard Asuka's name spoken she used the title. Rei turned her attention to the undergrowth and confirmed the errant pilot was indeed approaching.

Asuka emerged from the brush with evident lackluster. She was much lower than usual her body lowered to her "waist" as she slithered out of the brush into the clearing. With no greeting, she plucked a twig from her hair. Rei noticed she had a bundle of cloth tucked under her left arm.

"Where you successful?" Rei asked genuinely curious. Asuka cringed at the words and turned a venomous look on the bird girl as her poison leaked out killing the grass beneath her. Taking a deep breath, Asuka reined her venom in, and started to unfold the cloth in front of her. Apparently, true to her word she extracted a child sized peasant kimono, worn but fairly presentable. Balling it up Asuka tossed it across the clearing toward Kanna.

Asuka didn't wait for a reaction; she just slithered to a corner of the clearing as she flapped out the plain brown kimono she had scrounged for herself. She couldn't help but recall how the villagers had reacted to her as she slipped it on.

Naturally, they had been terrified of her approach and forewarned by the guard tower had fled. All but some stupid monk that annoyed her as she searched the village. He had the gall to slap a piece of paper on her tail that had shocked her like a joy buzzer. Asuka had punched him for the offense and heard his jaw break.

That had done it. Snapped her mind back into place, at least enough to realize how stupid she was being, not that she would ever admit it to Wonder Girl.

Of course, no one will react favorably to a snake monster! She was stuck as one and even she didn't take it in stride. The monk was only doing what the villagers had been too scared to do, protect their own. As for her, she was going clothes shopping!

"I hate my life," Asuka murmured into her scales. She had curled herself in into a pile of coils and rested her head face down in the center now.

Once more she had been unhinged, stupidity and suicidal action, all over again. How long till a third time? And there would be a third time; her confidence looked more like delusion all the time and there was nothing else to give her heading in this miserable place.

Asuka's scales could pass for plate armor on much of her form, but the nerves beneath were sensitive enough to let her feel touch indirectly. So her morbid reflection was interrupted when Kanna pressed her hand gently but firmly onto Asuka's outermost coil.

The hebi hanyou unwound herself enough so she could sit up on herself and look down at Kanna. The girl had put on the clothes, which while making her less creepy were way off since her appearance was far too elegant for such very common garb. Kanna bent down and picked up a dead rabbit, pierced by Rei's talons earlier it seemed. Asuka cocked an eyebrow at the girl holding the kill aloft.

"You missed the meal," Kanna told her as if that explained everything. Asuka frowned at the raw meat the others had taken to as time passed.

"You know I prefer it cooked," Asuka rolled her eyes.

"I don't know how to make a fire. Thank you, for the clothes," Kanna continued. Asuka sighed and shook her head at the kid, she was a few cards sort of a deck, and Rei wasn't going to be fixing that. Unwinding herself Asuka plucked the rabbit from the girls grip.

"I'll show you how to make a fire," Asuka said as if she was bestowing enlightenment on an undeserving clod. Which sadly, was fairly close to her thoughts on the matter. Kanna didn't know or didn't care as she followed after the demoness who gathered wood for the fire.

* * *

They stayed in the valley for the next two weeks; there was no reason to leave as they had nowhere to go. The isolation also seemed to work to their advantage: only a single demon had attacked in that time.

That one attacker had been a three eyed crow of some sort, hardly impressive. It had been smart enough to wait until they slept and tried to pluck Kanna's mirror from her sleeping hands. The creature had been so pathetically weak none of them sensed its presence, it was Kanna awakening and struggling for the mirror with the crow that awakened Rei.

Much to her surprise, her scream of rage at awakening to the scene before her heralded a white ring erupting from her mouth and striking the crow. It went "poof" leaving nothing but a handful of singed feathers. Despite the easy disposal, Rei was actually rattled by Kanna being imperiled while in her arms. She shifted Kanna's resting place to under a wing where the child was concealed and protected on all sides in her down.

Asuka was hunting now, she wasn't very good and usually returned with nothing, but didn't complain unless someone pointed out her failure. Though this new discretion was made up for whenever she actually did bring something back, she seemed to make up for frequent failure by over-promting her successes. It would be exasperating, if they all hadn't gotten more or less used to it by now.

Rei herself rarely hunted, she preferred to take kanna with her into the sky, the child holding onto her back. However, Rei had to dive to catch prey typically, and she didn't trust Kanna's one handed grip for such a maneuver. Attempts to down prey with her "shriek" proved a waste of time since it left little to no presentable meat.

The humans were aware of their presence, and while they gave them a wide berth, the pilots weren't exactly covering their trails. Not to mention, Rei had seen them watching her when she flew over the village and fields. It didn't seem a problem, neither side wanted to interact and so far they had successfully avoided one another.

This state of affairs abruptly ended when a new group moved into the valley. The day of the bandit raid, where everything would change for both sides.

They all sensed it; a strange feeling (aura Kanna later supplied) permeating the air that called them to be wary. Save for Shinji apparently, he rose from where he sat upon the ground with the brief screeching of metal on metal and made his way toward the village. Already uneasy by the intrusion, the females exchanged glances and silently decided to follow him.

The sounds of the alarm being raised reached them before they broke the treeline; they arrived in time to see the bandits sweep into the village. Asuka and Rei watched the tragedy begin to unfold with some sorrow. Even if they didn't have some military understanding the outcome would be obvious to most anyone. The bandits had weapons and likely experience, and had sufficient numbers that their victory was certain. If anything was left before the day was done it would be only because the bandits chose such a result.

Rei's keen eyes searched the chaos and found the source of the aura, the man that she deduced was the leader of the bandits. He was quite large for a human, barrel chested and brawny, his upper body was bare revealing an excess of scars and body hair. She thought glimpsed a beard but someone had set a house on fire and it obscured her vision. She saw clearly that he was wielding an over sized single bladed ax, and cringed as he rode down a man and cut him clean in half with one strike. Kanna had seen far worse tragedies and wasn't stirred by the acts even slightly, if anything she wanted to go back to sleep.

* * *

Shinji watched it happen blankly, but the sounds, the sounds were far more insistent. The noise of carnage and suffering slashed and weaved into his ears filling the mind between them. They would not be drowned out and they most certainly would not be evaded. Even as they chased a sole spark through the void. As it tends to, reality reconnected with one who lives in it.

Shinji sighed as he listened to the war; even if it was pathetically one-sided he still considered it that as he floated upside down in the white void. He was dressed in his school uniform and looked as if he had just stepped out from another of sensei's lectures. Sensei, he had rarely ever thought anything of the man, the pilot of Unit one supposed the droning teacher had also perished as a result of his failure. It was a queer and crushing weight to realize every last person you had ever met however briefly was dead, and that it was all your fault.

Even so, wherever he had ended up it was no better for being alive. The angels and humans were both discontent enough to fight a war of genocide against each other. And for what? To evolve? He saw no sense in any of it, Kaworu and his father, even when they spelled it out. their reasons made so little sense. He was just a puppet in the end, playing his role unable to grasp the motivations of the hands looming above.

Here again, death and suffering made its way here, and he could safely guess it was pointless. Death was terrible while life was full of suffering . . .

"No wonder Asuka never jumped on you with that attitude," Kaji spoke up. Shini whirled and found himself standing on the edge of kaji's melon patch, the man himself watering the garden with that same watering can as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Shinji turned again and saw that a few paces behind him the grass gave way to the void.

"Kaji, what are you doing here?" Shinji asked hesitantly.

"Tending my melons, though truthfully there is another pair of melons I would much rather be focusing on," the unashamed Japanese man answered wistfully.

"You're here to torment me as well," Shinji concluded. He should have known he wouldn't get off so easily.

"While I abhor violence, especially to children, I can see where Asuka's abuse comes from. Pull up your trouser's and stop expecting that kick on your ass," Kaji laughed. Shinji blushed at the imagery, and frowned as the sounds of the outside filtered in. Kaji tilted up his watering can and cocked his head to listen.

"Sounds pretty bad out there," the long haired man stated a serious look on his face.

"Yes," Shinji agreed.

"Well? What are you going to do?" Kaji asked.

"Me? There's nothing I can do," Shinji sighed looking down to the ground. Kaji shook his head as he resumed his watering.

"We both know that's not true. The last time we met like this, the Geofront was under siege and the girls were fighting the Angel I told you as much. All I can do is water my little patch, despite my best efforts I couldn't truly affect the outcome of the war. But you, Shinji, you had the power to make a difference. You still do," Kaji told him.

"But I failed! I didn't save the world, I didn't win!" Shinji cried out to the man. Only it wasn't a man anymore.

"Yeah, the invincible Shinji riding to the rescue, to save the day! Except when you didn't. I fought that last battle alone, I came back from the edge of oblivion to defend against the human enemy and the MP Evas, and where were you! You had time to jerk off over me but couldn't muster up the courage to actually help me when it counted? You jump into a volcano to save me, but can't be bothered to fight just because your fake boyfriend bought his plot? Disgusting," Asuka remarked, resplendent in the yellow dress he had first met her in. He had nothing to say to that, and her scowl darkened at him just taking it.

Misato appeared next.

Though she was watering the patch healthily and whole in her red jacket, not unlike when they met, he could not help but see her as she had been then; bleeding out before the lift doors closed between them.

"Do you remember what I told you?" she asked simply, her voice calm and clear.

"I will never forget," he confessed.

"Stop being so mopey, you're a boy you know. I didn't have to give my life for yours, I chose too without regret. Adam took away any hope that I could have children, that's what I thought, and it was another part of my vendetta with the angels. But that just me being stupid, I chose to hate and it ended up dominating my life until I met you. Even Kaji couldn't change me that way, and when he started, too, I ran away from him to Nerv.

"Heh, guess that's why I wanted you from the start. We each were clinging to some poison or other, Asuka too," Misato mused.

"Misery loves company," Shinji remarked, when Misato gave a snort of laughter he looked up scandalized at her attitude. She gave him a catty grin.

"Oh please, for all of us that was the first time we had a real family. It's when we fell apart that we became lost and went back to living for dying," Misato looked down, "I held a grudge for fifteen years and all it gave me was emptiness," she looked back up, "Do you really think I would turn around and make the mistake of hating someone I love?" Misato asked smiling. Shinji's eyes widened and his jaw clenched.

"I killed you! I failed you and everyone. You "should" hate me!" Shinji screamed at her.

"I saved you, because I believed you deserved a chance at happiness; that hasn't changed. You did fail, but a losing record is no reason to give up. I wish I could have taught you that lesson more than anything, gotten you to stop expecting things to go so wrong," Misato stated sadly.

"Why should I be happy?" Shinji demanded eyes tearing up. He raised his head to find Rei had taken Misato's place.

"Rei," he greeted her tentatively. The First Child nodded without glancing over and continued to water the patch. Shinji waited for something to happen as the minutes dragged on, the sound of water on vegetation filling the air.

"Talk to me," he demanded finally of the phantom. Rei turned to face him her face blinking with shock as if she heard the strangest thing she had seen.

"What is it you want me to say? Do you want me to call you lover or brother," she asked in confusion. Shinji gaped at the questions like a gold fish.

"As if he would chose between the two when he could take both! Japanese hentai, it's weird," Asuka remarked her voice dripping with how disgusted she was. That was the straw that broke the aged camels back.

"WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME!" he screamed at the German girl. Though it was Kaji he was yelling at it turned out, the man wearing one of his rare serious expressions, seemingly searching Shinji for something.

"The same thing everyone who cared about you even briefly wanted," Kajj remarked. Pulling his arm back he swung it forward letting the watering can tumble through the air until it shattered against the void.

The void shattered as well, like a pane of glass revealing what had been hidden behind it. Shinji frowned at the sight, he recognized what he was seeing and did not appreciate the implications one bit.

"Spears, bows, axs, hammers, and even guns are not solely weapons. They can be used for something beyond violence towards our fellow men, guns at the least can be for hunting to provide for others. Swords though, their design and function is solely for battle against others," Kaji told him hands in his pockets.

"Horrible," Shinji remarked turning away from it, facing back towards the nothing he had come from. It was Misato's voice that stopped him from stepping over the edge

"But unlike a gun a sword is not just for attacking. With a sword you can block another blade, and keep it from cutting," she told him. He had hated to see her kill, even though those men had come to kill him. She was Misato, she wasn't supposed to be as guilty as the rest of them.

"If I fail they'll die and it will be my fault," Shinji told her.

"Ikari, get your panties untwisted already," Toji groaned. Shinji whirled to see his friend standing there, dressed in his normal tracksuit his body language screaming he would rather be doing something else.

"I made a mistake hitting you, it may have been your fault but you weren't to blame for what happened. Geeze, I'm the one saying it and it doesn't even make sense to me. I didn't want to get in that robot thing either, you know. Among other things I was worried it would leave me as messed up as you, Ayanami, and the Red Menace. But no one forced me to get in there and die. It wasn't about not being helpless like that time on the hill, I was used to that. Na, they offered me a chance to help and I wanted to do whatever I could even if it meant dying. Because I knew I was a dime a dozen, even if people missed me the world would keep on turning, and keeping the world turning was more important. So here's the deal, you do nothing people die, you do something and they probably will still die. If you try at least there's a chance you'll be able to help someone, so what's more important your 'innocence' in their deaths or them actually having a chance," Toji asked sarcastically, scratching himself with his free hand.

Shinji turned back towards the hole in the darkness, looking at the simple stone pedestal on the other side and the sword plunged into it. It wasn't a sword like he'd seen in Kensuke's stuff or his lessons, it was a Western sword, the kind he could easily imagine Asuka swinging around. He took a step towards it, and found his path blocked. Frozen to the spot he looked up to meet the cold gaze of his father.

This was different, Shinji realized instantly as he felt freezing cold steel pierce him through the veiled gaze of his father. The others were behind him, they had not moved from the start. But his father had been waiting here the whole time at the edge of darkness, standing in his path.

And most of all the Bastard King was silent, his expression was mild disapproval; as if he was watching a bug scuttle across the floor and debating whether stepping on it was worth the resulting mess.

"What am I doing? Even if I got to the sword …" his thoughts raced down well worn trails. But even those time honored paths of cowardice and inadequacy were no longer his to tread alone. She was there in front of him, the great Asuka Langley Sorhyuu as much as his father he longed for her acknowledgment while fearing her attention. She was quiet, and that was just wrong, she was alive just as much as he was dead inside; a raging fire that warmed him even as she burned him.

She was dead, ripped apart in the mirror image of Unit Two's final fate. The lances pierced her, so much of her was hanging out, and he wanted to run. But if he ran it would have to be over her dead body.

"Is this what that saying means," he whispered to no one. He could hear it again, the sounds of carnage and death. Yes, he ran away and hid himself. No, he ran away to die out of sight, and this was the result.

She was alive now, but if he ran now would he ever stop? Would he just leave them to die again?

"No," he told the broken body. He had done enough he would not tread on her as well just to escape. His father stood before him again, or was it Shinji that had left to now come back? He couldn't raise he head to meet those eyes behind the lenses, but he would not stand still or run away.

Shinji stepped around his father, the sharp weight of those eyes never leaving him as the sword came into sight again.

"Shinji, this is not something you can avoid forever," Misato called out from behind. The disappointment coloring her words drove a nail through his heart, but if he knew all would be lost if he did as she wanted.

At last, he stood before the sword in the stone, he vaguely recalled something like this. Some Western equivalent of Kusanagi. A lesson from his teacher? No, a story someone had read to him once, though he could not remember anyone ever doing such a thing for him. But he realized that pulling it out was the most relevant act of all.

It was not as tall as it had seemed from a distance, he stood over it, the pommel coming to the base of his chest. Slowly but surely he reached for it, hands opened and held vertically so they closed over the length of the hilt. The leather was cold to the touch, but resisting the urge to release it he felt his own heat flow into the sword. Bending his knees first he pulled upward with all the strength he could muster. It moved, it was coming out!

Shinji had expected in spite of it all that he would get her only for it to be for nothing, but it was happening. He was exhilarated and didn't know what to do with the sensation. Then it stopped. Blinking in surprise he tugged at it again and again desperate t pull the remaining half of the blade clear.

"No half-assing dunkopf," Asuka growled from somewhere. Shinji reluctantly looked up and saw a white gloved hand resting gently but firmly on the pommel of the sword. The boy knew who he would find standing behind him if he followed the dark sleeved arm the hand was attached too.

Half a sword, and still stuck in a rock. It would have to do, Shinji decided. The universe ripped asunder and the void vanished in thundering silence.

* * *

He gave no warning, one moment he was staring down with the rest of them, as detached as Kanna from the unfolding tragedy. Then he was running, Asuka cried out in surprise and was jogged from the morbid fascination in which people observe train wrecks and the like by this bolt from the blue. Rei blinked several times, watching him sprint with such speed he was almost comically clumsy in near falls. Though her expression was muted, to those that had known her it would be on par with a true sports fan celebrating a team goal while tipsy in passion. Kanna gave a sigh of relief that he was not looming near them, and watched with mild interest wondering how the demon would react.

He cleared the last of the distance in a leap best described as frantic, howling into the night, freezing bandits and villagers alike as they reacted instinctively to the arrival of a predator. The bandit nearest to him turned away from the woman whose clothes he had torn, despite the dread welling up, the force that compels people to observe disaster made him look towards the strange shape of the edge of the waving light.

He heard the earth tear as it moved, a head was raised before he saw a pair of eyes flash. He began to scream before it pushed itself forward and an armored hand smacked him messily into the ground bracing itself over his sputtering remains.

Panic seized all hearts as the armored giant stood its face contorted in rage as the fire's light were caught on eyes, armor and teeth.

The monk was not scared, he recognized his wound as fatal, he was beyond saving or fear as he prepared himself for the end. Though a good bit of that was probably shock as he pondered the latest misfortune of the night. He had feared that snake demon woman was some kind of omen, and had been upset but not surprised by the raid. But what had they done for karma to bring such as this into their midst?

As it picked up a bandit who impotently hacked at its arm with a sword the monk frowned thinking he was missing something. The realization struck him in unusually subdued tones as the monster crushed the bandit in its grip and let the ruined meat fall back to earth. The villagers were helpless why was it only attacking the bandits? He pondered this with difficulty as darkness enfolded him. Yet, his last thought was regret that in the end he could so little for these people.

The chaos of the raid exploded into still further discord as the bandits scattered before a threat that eclipsed their petty might. All thoughts of loot and rape were forgotten in favor of escaping into field and wood. The villagers retreated into what dwellings that remained intact cowering in prayer while the boldest of them scampered trying to save those who could be saved while the monster hunted.

Only one was calm in the chaos. The bandit leader stood calmly watching from a short distance as the creature that did not feel quite like a demon kicked one of his men into the air, the force shattering the fools torso on contact.

He had felt other demons presence in the valley and caught a faint scent of snake in this collection of hovels before the smoke drowned it out. When they had not challenged him and his bands' intrusion, he had been content to pass them by in turn. It wasn't really out of manners; more that he saw demons to weak to defend their territory not worth the effort of hunting down. Unlike humans, it was always a thrill to tear apart the lives of pathetic mortals in all senses of the word.

"Boss we gotta run!" a bandit had come up to him in his fleeing, a lowly peasant turned robber wielding sword pilfered from some vanquished samurai's dead hands. Annoyed by the insects chirping the boss lifted his massive ax with just his right hand and whirled on one heel, cleaving the man apart at the waist, before returning to his starting position in the same motion.

Stroking his beard with his left hand the demon masquerading as a large man tried to gauge the power of the creature. He had mistaken it for a demon but the aura was wrong somehow, it was beyond his experience. Not a hanyou, he had encountered that wretched stench often enough to know it.

He decided the mystery wouldn't matter since he would kill this freak here and now. There were always more bandits to recruit for his fun, but he disliked anyone meddling in his business regardless. Swinging his ax up from its head resting on the ground before him he released his form, a visible red aura radiating from the ax as the blood turned to stains and the flaked away joining the auras sickly life. He had slain near a thousand human with this blade, so much death and his possession of it made it accursed and mighty. So it concealed his nature at his whim and now it unveiled a true demon for these mortals to quake before.

The berserker turned from its slaughter, these insects offered no threat to him, but it was somehow important that they not destroy the weaker insects. It did not know or care why, it simply did. Now though it felt something new, it was the subject of killing intent by something worthy of its fury. Its wild eager casting about ended as its glowing eyes fell upon the source. A mound of reddening flesh rising amidst the fire, no it had true form, it was just getting up.

It resembled a fat human to start with, but its skin was fire red, and the differences piled up from there. Three white horns curved up from its tangled black mane and a third eye red like its peers opened on its brow. The mouth was horrendous, it was lip-less and it cheeks split displaying the entire jaw full of massive pointed fangs that curved outward. Further study was aborted by the berserker's desire to battle, with a roar it hunched down to spring into the air flying at the demon.

The demon let out a barking laugh, sliding one foot back its right arm tensed before swinging up with an ax that was massive even when set beside its own frame. The Berserker didn't even notice bloodlust screaming through what passed for its mind. The purple armor that crowned Ikari was all that saved him as the ax slammed into it, denting the armor and sending him crashing to the ground rather than splitting his skull.

"Hmm, mindless. Fun, but useless when you face a true foe," the demon laughed. Shouldering its ax, it walked over to where the Berserker pulled itself from its back on the freshly crushed ruins of a hut. An old woman who had been trying to drag an already dead monk to safety could only pause and cower at her near brush with death as the demon loomed over her and its opponent.

"I thought you might be a challenge, but I see you're just garbage who can't even use that strange power I smelled. Still you've gotten me worked up, this won't be enough," it declared. With horrid ease it swung the ax up and brought it down in an overhead strike intending to cleave Shinji's head in two.

Self-preservation took control springing to the side as best it could took his head out of danger, but still left him exposed. His left arm held out its armored forearm to try and block the blow. Metal sparked against metal, knocking the purple metal away as the ax fell to bite into bare flesh and bone on his shoulder. Orange blood sprayed out drenching the old woman and her deceased charge, she screamed in fear and disgust as the demon's booming laughter filled the night. It pulled its weapon clear shouldering it again as is opponent righted itself, one arm hanging uselessly as it got into a feral stance.

The woman watched transfixed with horror and awe before a stirring in her arms made her look down and to the monk in surprise. He was alive, his wound closing up before her eyes as grass sprouted from the compact dirt. "How?" she wondered her head whipping back to the battle.

"No, this won't be enough for how excited I got. So once I'm done with you I will take those women you have hidden up there, one might be a half demon but women are the same in the dark. I'll have to eat all thee humans next, fun always makes he hungry," the demon sneered despite its face.

...

The Berserker had failed him, which was a first. Perhaps because it was his own strength guiding it rather than the implacable wrath of a mother defending her child? Regardless the bitter taste of failure passed over his tongue and threatened to choke him. The monster was laughing at him. Had he ever hated something so much?

He truly couldn't remember, his mind was in chaos, malice for his opponent a nail driven through it demanding all in his head revolve around it.

It looked too human he decided, but it wasn't like Kaworou had been. His friend and enemy had been like a true angel would have been, beautiful radiating comfort and power with such subtlety you felt at ease with him before you realized it.

This... this abomination surpassed the Angels in its acts and its hideousness countenance, he realized with the queer calm of the doomed. Yes, save for the beautiful final angels, they had been so far from human as to easily be dismissed as monsters. He had no standard to truly judge them against their motives and thoughts; something he had never tried to grasp. He could only recall twice questioning his directive of intercept and destroy: the air ducts and beyond heaven's door.

But this monster, this sick joke of a being made in the image of no god, it was neither human or inhuman in its appearance. It was warped, a twisted parody of humanity that defiled the original.

He saw it's nature clearly, laid out before him like a map. It truly had no design, grand terrible or anything in between. It killed, it destroyed, it defiled without hesitation or remorse for no other reason than because it wanted to. It was filth, poisonous shit expelled from some body to poison that which lay without.

"If I die, he will do everything he said, he'll kill the men, eat the women, and do 'that' to Asuka and Rei. I can't fail them, not again. I must not lose. I must not lose. I must not lose. I must not lose. I MUST NOT LOSE!" his despair gave way to a furious new mantra.

There was not the slightest thought of running, he was through with that, the dilemma now was falling or prevailing. Thus four words filling his mind till his head could no longer hold it; jaws, gritted with pain, sprang open casting blood to the ground as his cheeks ripped asunder.

The roar was rage given voice, the demon halted before it taking a step back as its confidence was blown away. The villagers cowered in fear while the remaining bandits abandoned the last of their courage throwing down their weapons to flee faster.

Rage had been given voice, and all in the land trembled beneath that thunder.

It had fallen with him, older than the works of man yet far younger than God for all the weight of ages that had pressed down upon it. Shinji had left it behind, though it had followed him on roads the likes of him had never been meant to tread. The journey had taxed it, the strength born of the long slumber gone, and its size near halved in reflection of that. Yet power still surged through its form, waiting with hungry patience to be called upon.

Now, it rose from the earth humming in resonance with the sounding of rage born of rapturous fury, it cut through canopy, wind, and cloud; a single joyous note following in its wake to hit for anyone to hear.

In his despair he had called it down from the heavens to pierce his bared throat. Now it came to his outstretched hand, the spear of destiny, the Lance of Longinus at last put to its proper purpose. Crimson metal a pair of rods twisted about one another in a great coil to fan out into a two pronged fork at its head. Asuka trembled at the sight of it, hand drifting to her eye.

"Welcome home," Shinji thought without knowing why. He raised his hand and swung out; the demon was at the end of his reach and stumbled back from the death that screamed in its mind. The next strike it caught on its ax the two weapons locking as the adversaries tried to break through. The demons three eyes narrowed at its lack of success it knew it could shatter steel with its ax, so what . . .

Its eyes widened at the weapon that had come from nowhere, a white aura was dancing across its length. Sanctified, no it was s_anctifying_, even as its energy coated the abomination it did not purify him, but was damaging his empowered ax. It was like a holy-demon, a contradiction that went against everything in his knowledge, but here it was.

Humans are said to fear the unknown above all else, the same applies to demons. The demon saw its death as the purple abomination pulled itself upright, the wounds from before hadn't healed but it was as if they didn't matter. The whelp was still weak, that weapon was the problem! His wonderful ax blessed by 2000 human deaths was like a scythe before a dragon's claws!

"Forget this! I'm not dying for this miserable piece of dirt," the demon panicked. Turning from the horror in physical form, it leapt using the force in its legs so that it would be carried into the treeline. It was fleeing in hope that its retreat would appease the death giver it had stumbled across.

It was wrong, the spear whistled through the air lacking the great strength that had carried it to that place, but not needing it. The demon didn't feel its chest pierced by the twin prongs; it only looked on in surprise before white fire erupted from the punctures consuming it. The momentum was killed with the monster, it fell in blessed fire into the paddies, smoldering for a moment before the fire erupted upward, two shafts of light springing out from the column, completing the cross that split the night. It was wonderful and terrifying to see. The ax imbedded where it had fallen in the rice paddies flared red for an instant before corroding and falling apart before the blazing white.

The cross was snuffed out as quickly as it had come, letting the dark rush back in and silence reigned in over all who remained. Asuka and even Rei looked on with shock and confusion at what they had witnessed and now saw the villagers kowtowed before the bleeding giant that stood amongst the ruins beneath the pale moonlight. Shinji stood there, his heavy breathing the only sound to accompany the dying fires as green shoots sprouted from the pools of orange blood forming about his feet.

* * *

**AN:**

_Well this took longer than expected. I had it then I lost it. Then I showed it to Nocturne who pointed out something I had not thought of and I had to think again. Anyway here it is finally and at long last. I have no idea if the next chapter will be prompt; there is a lot on my plate. Jumping Fox in particular, since the patron has returned and wants his update._

_Anyway the next chapter is, Interlude I: Lord of the West. We're about to have ourselves a fun time skip, and at the other end is the meeting between main characters. But for this interlude ann elegant aristocratic killer will be taking center stage, rather than his titular half brother. If you still don't know who I am talking about, I do not care. Chapter after next we meet the Inu Group post time skip._


	5. Lord of the West

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Neon Genesis Evangelion or Inuyasha. So please put the lawyer down sir.

* * *

**Lord of the West**

To fly was to be joyous. This was something Rei had come to terms with. A strange way to word such a thing, but Rei was never normal. For someone raised to emotional sterilization where a raised voice could equal dancing for joy or a raging tantrum in a normal person; accepting an everyday task brought her something so potent as joy was no simple thing.

Yet it was inescapable, as the wind washed over her and carried her, as her wings and energy held her aloft with a power she used with ease and little understanding. All was well, that was the thought that kept returning, allowing no escape to the detached introspection of old.

Soaring through the grey winter sky, a piece of white on the troubled gray, a part of her wanted to keep going. Not some juvenile fantasy of seeking out the unknown beyond the horizon, such things had not interested or even been truly understood by her before, and that was one thing that had not changed.

No she envisioned herself nesting high atop snowy peaks: isolated, taking her meager needs to survive from the harsh landscape between earth and sky.

'Heavy are the mountains.'

She recalled those words from another life. Yes an existence of solitude without the turmoil or entanglement of others. No identity with no one to recognize her existence and no destiny designed others or chosen by herself. She could simply exist unto herself as she slipped away into a blissful oblivion of survival and existence.

Yet the voice was weak, snow falling onto stone heated by the magma flows beneath the surface. Pulsing with the life of a world calling for those hearing it to join the song and dance it marks with its beat. Music made sense for the first time, though she knew aside from Kanna she would never even bother explaining it to anyone.

And that was just it, the difference, she did not look up; it was in looking down she found what she needed. The mountains were not what she wanted. It was the valley, her valley. They had named her the Blue Harpy despite her more numerous white feathers, and had marked this valley as hers.

She who had never sought a title had become a ruler and mother quite by accident. She believed Katsuragi would have called this a 'FUBAR', but unlike the unstable officer Rei had found the unexpected something to take joy in.

**X X X**

The Lord of the West descended to the earth, the crimson cloud he stood upon dissipating on the contact. A small human girl wrapped in a mountain cat pelt immediately scampered off, no doubt to explore the snowy site with the eager curiosity that comes naturally to children.

Unlike his charge the Lord of the West, Sesshomaru of the Inuyoukai was stern and aloof in his demeanor, and garbed in his typical robes and furs. True to his name his appearance was one of deadly elegance, and if the cold bothered him he showed no sign.

His garments of white and red spoke of martial refinery, the spiked armor o one shoulder his sole concession to protection. Fur trailed down from his shoulders alongside snow white hair. He was fair of face and skin, at first glance the ignorant may have mistook him for a woman(1). A crescent moon marked his brow and two golden eyes looked out with cold despondency on the land

Beneath the snow before him laid the rotting corpses of demons. Most had been scoured by spiritual fire. His keen nose told him what his eyes could not see. The display ringed these mountains, encircling the valley below him.

His eyes did pick out the trail below, curving out of sight: a clearly defined boundary. Two demons, a Hanyou, and something he mistook for a Hanyou but found stranger on inspection. The Hanyou was under the village with the lesser demon, looking after the holding no doubt. The strange one was on the perimeter, a sentry. The final one, the strong demon, the Blue Harpy he had been hearing rumors about was in the tree that dominated the inner forest.

He would speak with this upstart, and if necessary put her in her place.

**X X X**

Kanna tugged her kimono's collar wider tying to cool off as she shut the door to Asuka's furnace. It did not strike her how trying to cool off in winter was strange, after all the cold while bothering her was not something she complained about.

She left the crude furnace to its task of trying to heat the tunnels, stepping back into the corridor. It roughly resembled a hallway but it was all curved edges and tunnel-like, despite Asuka's best efforts. Her tunneling ability while quite effective was still not what the temperamental Hebi would call refined.

The Second discovered the ability while sleepily avoiding the rain, waking to find herself burrowed into the earth. Aside from moving through the ground with ease the great serpent could harden her passages leaving trails in the ground by secreting her poison. While slightly pebbled in texture Kanna found it pleasing enough for her feet.

Vague plans for a mansion had been quickly disregarded as the Second moved underground using her mysterious 'engineering skills' to make an 'unassailable wonder'. Kanna decided that attributing the move to instinct while accurate would not be appreciated by her packmate.

The heating system was a particular failure, a frantic product of the Seconds fear of winter on her reptilian nature. Kanna agreed the failure was a pity.

Her mother had sent her here from the nest concerned the winter elements would harm her. But Kanna found herself either bored with the tunnels or tending to the hibernating Asuka.

Not that she would complain, she was the omega of the pack so such duties were fitting. Besides sleeping was a pleasant state to socialize with the serpent hanyou. Less pleasant was her occasional semi wakefulness where she ate, often gnawing on non-food items and the ever eventful attempts to use the latrine.

Checking on the carpeted and cloth lined depression that was Asuka's bed confirmed the serpent was coiled tightly her upper body buried under her tail. Sometimes went Kanna grew tired of her down filled alcove she would snuggle into the coils. They were surprisingly comfortable, and like with the nest the heart beats of another being were most soothing to her.

Kanna thought it was only a matter of time until Asuka woke again. Down here time was harder to keep track of, only to be broken up by her own sleeping.

But it was time that changed. As their hasty nature made clear Asuka's horded food was running out. Kanna did not eat much but she admitted to some concern for her own safety if she could not provide the insensible hanyou with her fill.

A trip to the surface was in order. Not just an idle break, but a genuine errand to justify her ascent. The humans could perhaps assist her, though it would likely fall to seeking her mother's aid to acquire some fresher animal corpses. The smokehouse hadn't been finished before the cold stole the Second's wits after all.

Fortunately the Second was not current complaining about well aged meat.

She walked up the ascending tunnel calmly pulling up the fur lined hood she had been given. She felt she could do without but liked the gift. It was white despite being brown when she got it.

That happened to all her clothes Asuka calling her a 'bleach demon.' It felt like it should be an insult, but apparently it meant she no longer had to wash the serpent's kimonos. In fact she had been forever banished from approaching Asuka's wardrobe.

She let such thoughts fall away reaching into a small alcove to push in a lever popping the soil covered trap door before her.

Scampering through the small space she could manage without stronger assistance she realized something. She would have to leave it open, with snow falling like this her tracks would vanish. She wasn't certain she could find Asuka's holes in this snow.

Resigning herself to the wasted fuel she trudged off into the snow towards the nest.

**X X X**

A snow caked giant marched through the snow. Icicles hung from the protrusions of his armor and snow gathered in crevices and heaped on his shoulders.

Shinji paid it no mind. The cold was no big deal for him, and this snow could mask the approach of a foe. The bandits seemed learn their lessons as he piled the corpses beyond the canyon. But the demons continued to come to be skewered on the Lance.

He had not gotten them all, the girls had had to fight, unacceptable. He rarely needed rest, and so his days and nights were patrol. He was deprived of purpose, especially since Asuka went to ground.

He saw Rei every day in the skies and knew she saw him. She was beautiful, he had thought that even when she was wrapped in bandages crying with pain. But now . . .

There was no lust he had realized in surprise. Not with her or Asuka, he found them so magnificent yet . . .

'Pervert! I know what you did while I was sleeping!" the Not Asuka screamed in his face.

He clanged the shaft of the lance to his shoulder the vibration sending the ice and snow tumbling from his form clearing his vision.

Thinking got him nowhere, all he needed was purpose to put one foot in front of the other.

The aura hit him and he nearly stumbled, catching himself on the Lance. Faint but strong, so strong.

Raising his head to look into the valley dread cloaked him as he probed it with his senses. It was far above anything he had faced, and it was already in the valley, no over it!

Swiftly approaching Rei's tree, where she was.

Snow flew up as he leapt into the skies trees crashing to the side as he landed in a dead run.

**X X X**

Kanna was hiding under a bush when the intruder passed over. It was him, the one her sister had sought. Time had not made him weaker and swords still hung at his belt.

The Lord of the West had come, for her mother. She realized this and against all her growing sense of self preservation, ran after him pulling her mirror from behind her.

Rei was not in her nest. Normally she would be resting now so she could fly again for hours under the moonlight. Kanna liked the sun so she had curtailed her nocturnal flights, but with her daughter with Asuka she was free to set her own schedule.

But her sleep had been disturbed with her senses flaring in danger. Something was coming. Something strong, and unlike the battles since their arrival in the Valley she was not certain Shinji could take care of it if worse came to worse.

It had been flying low. She had only caught glimpses of it from her perch in the tree Shinji had fed so generously with his blood to make a fine nesting place for her.

Now it approached on foot and she stood still among the snow covered tangles of her tree. Watching, waiting, and she would admit it, fearing.

"I can see you clearly, Blue Harpy seems a misnomer. Or is it simply winter feathers?" a cold refined voice called from the shadows of the forest. The image of Gendo Ikari reared in her mind and panic rose.

No, it wasn't him. He had been gruff despite his refinement, a man who had pulled himself up the ladder and showed it if you looked hard enough. This voice was assured in a way his hadn't been. It was one who felt no need to shape the world because it already suited him.

Now the speaker revealed himself, stepping into the small clearing that had formed around her tree's base. Gold eyes looked with her ruby eyes, and she felt like prey.

"Who are you," she asked.

"I am the Lord of the Western Lands, come down here now," he declared with finality. There was no pride in his voice; he started his title as a fact no more no less. It illogically made her feel foolish for her question.

She obeyed guessing the consequences of this one's displeasure.

"I am Rei, called the Blue harpy by the people of the Valley," she introduced herself eyeing him warily from her position.

The Lord of the West measured her without expression. He sensed none of the arrogance or pride typical of would be rebels or usurpers. Still he had been deceived before.

"Why have you established a domain in my territory?" he demamded.

"I did not intend to establish anything Lord Sesshomaru. We were wandering aimlessly and one of my companions intervened in a battle here. The humans took him for a kami, and one of my other companions saw a chance to settle. So we did," she explained warily.

"You obey the whims of your subordinates?"

"I only lead because the others are either uninterested or even less qualified than I.

"I don't want conflict. What needs to be done to avoid it, Lord of the West?" the young demoness asked.

Interesting. It was a strange tale, but wandering demons could form unlikely packs. He wondered about that sacred presence, it was pure and yet tainted, like desecrated holy ground.

But it seemed he may have a vassal in the making rather than a rebel.

He didn't need the demons of this valley, but one's domains could never be too big or vassals too numerous. And if she proved treacherous he could always kill her and hers.

"You will respect the peace between my other vassals, and in exchange you will be protected from them. If you wish to pursue a vendetta against another under my rule you must appeal to me first for permission. You and yours will be mine to call on in times of war without question or compromise. In exchange your domain will fall under my protection against other Demon Lords

"Finally each year you must offer tribute to me as a sign of supplication," he recited the conditions crisply.

"This is acceptable," Rei answered.

Curiouser and curiouser, while he did intimidate this demon, alphas typically resented being subordinated, even if it was to their betters.

Jakken was an anomaly, most demons would sooner rule over chafe as he had rather than serve a true being of power. It was a great part of the reason he put up with the kappa.

He raised his hand to accept her allegiance, pausing to glance to the side. He leapt back as Shinji's massive form descended from the sky Lance driving into the ground he had just stood on.

"Shinji!" Rei shouted hopping back.

"It would seem good faith was lacking after all," the Lord of the West remarked forming his lash as Shinji ripped his weapon from the ground. The aristocratic demon saw the poor fighting form of his foe, but also the weapon.

'This is the strange one, part human but not a Hanyou? Kami? Then why this menace?' he wondered propelling himself back away from the clumsy but fast swing of the spear.

He let it close to show his lack of concern. Only to feel fire and ice flare across him. His eyes widened as he took a proper leap back.

Scowling he realized he was unharmed it was that weapon, its aura was overpowering. A powerful but unrefined warrior, and a weapon which was making his instinct flare.

He noted both the white girl moving closer and the Harpy calling out to her minion to stop. The Lord of the West decided he had toyed enough. His whip passed gracefully as he dodged a roaring spear thrust. The energy closed about the wrist and tightened.

Next thing they saw, he knew, he was on the monster's wrist balanced with deceptive ease. A swift powerful kick sent the weapon flying as the fingers opened.

The brutes eyes widened in stunned surprise at the display of speed and agility. Good. Let it see his boot.

With a crack the brute was stumbling back. To its credit it reached for him as he alighted atop the snow rather than clutch its face. He was not so obliging as to be caught. His whip lashed out again and with a tug he sent his attacker to its back.

"I mustn't-" it growled trying to rise. It stopped seeing him atop its own chest, sword finally drawn and held to its throat.

"Good so you can speak. That means you can understand what I have to say," the aristocratic demon commented.

"Please mercy!" Rei cried out. The Lord turned his eyes on her confident of his position. She was kneeling, not rushing to attack, he had not failed to note the other watcher. Still he was intrigued by the terror in her eyes, she cared for his opponent, deeply.

I would have mocked that trait in a leader once, he recalled.

Yet she didn't attack to aid. As he watched she prostrated herself in the snow.

"He didn't know, he is a simple protector. Ht ill not happen again, please spare him Lord," Rei begged. He did not acknowledge the display instead turning his eyes to the edge of the clearing. His gesture understood Kanna shuffled out of the woods. Rei lifted her head and sucked in a breath.

"I was told you were dead," Sesshomaru remarked.

"I was, I am still incomplete," she answered. She looked at the harpy rather than him. The jewel, how his half brother would rage that it had raised such a longstanding foe. Or perhaps not, his woman had seemed to pity the mirror girl, and often wisely Inuyasha let himself be lead by those less foolish than him.

"Are you going to shatter me?" Kanna asked flatly.

"Why would I? My feud was with your 'father' and I retain a debt to your sister. That debt is closed with your kneeling," he answered. The girl nodded and kowtowed as best she could with one arm. He saw her mirror was indeed incomplete.

"This one is mine as well. He will learn proper respect and to fight as more than a beast," he commanded, eyes drifting back into the white eyes glaring impotently at him.

"Yes, Shinji he is our new Lord we owe him obedience," Rei spoke her voice rough from anxiety and overuse. She was not distressed by this so much. It was only a new chain of command and it promised to be less demanding than Nerv from what little she had been told.

He stepped down and the strange being did not rise only balling its fists as it glared into the sky.

"I see you have proper command. That is good, serve me as well and there will be no ill will between us.

"And your hanyou will also fall under me through you," he added as his cloud formed beneath him. Rei just nodded looking pained.

He guessed she was of an even temperament like himself, but she was inexperienced with how to maintain it under stress. He rose into the sky already losing concern for the harpy.

Perhaps this Shinji warranted some investigation, but it had been a simple matter of expanding his domain in the end.

Unnoticed by him Kanna ran to Rei and was buried in feathers, while the feathered girl looked at Shinji's silently fuming form.

**X X X**

Asuka's lair was hot stoked into greater heat with its chief occupant awake for the time being. Awake and loud.

"Vassal! What the hell does that mean!" Asuka shouted slamming her sake bottle down on the low table. In her human form for the time being she wore a plain light green kimono, red ones seemingly not supplied by 'her' subjects.

She and her guests were sitting in a crude sitting room. Like all the rooms Asuka had made by burrowing about its walls and floor had traces of her passage giving it a wavy appearance. It had hide rugs provided by their hunting and a tea table made under her orders by the town carpenter.

"It means we do what he says and give him an annual tribute," Kanna answered. She hadn't been given the single saucer, Asuka taking a drag from the bottle. The alabaster child glanced to the other seated person and seeing no trace of interest picked up their saucer.

"I know what a vassal is, and you're a minor!" Asuka snapped. She snatched the saucer out of Kanna's hand draining it herself. A visible shiver went through she and she pulled her kimono tighter muttering curses. Kanna would have to get more for the next transformation, she didn't want Asuka's blood getting too cold without the alcohol.

"If you knew why ask? And you're also underage," Shinji pointed out blankly. He was also in human form, his hair having grown past his shoulders and falling freely as he seemingly had no inclination to tend to it.

"The drag queen speaks! It's a miracle! How come you get curb stomped and I have to cough up the swag! Where's this guy get off making demands!" Asuka shouted. Shinji was wearing a kimono like hers, and in Asuka's words his human form seemed to have testosterone withdrawal compared to his other form.

Kanna watched his fists ball under the table from her spot. Picking up a bone from her otherwise bare plate she placed it in her mouth and proceeded to crunch it enjoying the marrow. She knew it wasn't her insults that were agitating him, but a reminder of his shameful defeat.

"He only wears that because you only stock female clothes, so you can mock him when he takes shelter here," Kanna reminded her flatly. Hopefully changing the subject since the heat fixated female was not like to catch on.

"Don't correct me when I'm ranting Kanna! Do you know how poor those people are! As it is I can only squeeze so much before Wondergirl starts getting all scary eyes on me! And frankly she's not worth the effort of reminding who is the best," Asuka ranted.

'You're a snake, snakes are afraid of birds,' Kanna translated. She would give the quirk of her lips that passed for a smile, but she was worried the hebi hanyou was onto her.

"How am I supposed to get a decent place if that income is no longer tax exempt! And by the way you need to man up Shinji and take out the trash! My husks are piling up into the hall!" Asuka whined.

"Where do you want me to take them," he asked carefully plucking the bottle from her hand as she stopped brandishing it.

"Because its cold out and the cold hates me!" she answered the question he didn't ask. Pausing she looked at him confused before scowling realizing the mistake.

"Just toss it in the woods, its garbage and the nearest environmentalist is about a thousand years away. So go chop down trees for fun!" she yelled at him as Kanna slipped away from the table.

**X X X**

The girl walked under the moonlight snow. She looked to the sky and was relieved it was empty. Her pack-mates would not leave the den in their human forms, only mother could interrupt this.

She reached down and began to undo her kimono. It was harder with one arm, but she managed without complaint. He had come to the conclusion hinderances had their own virtue. Irritation reminded her she existed.

Soon enough she was down to her under wrappings, thankfully he cold did not affect her enough to to care, but she still spread out the clothing to kneel o rather than the snow. Picking up her broken mirror she placed it before her on the white cloth.

It was hers, she had been born with it. When she had thought she could value nothing she had treasured this one ting. In many ways the mirror was bot part of her and 'was' her. Her strength and greatest weakness.

When Naraku punished her sister it was with pain or imprisonment. The only time he had punished her in earnest, he had taken her mirror away.

Her hand drifted to the bandages wrapped thickly over she shoulder. Her wounds edges were to sharp and ruined clothing. As sharp as ever, and would always be.

Because she could not heal while the mirror was broken. And what would mend it if not a jewel shard?

She was weak, injured as well as crippled. A crippled demon could still be mighty, had her sister's Desire not demonstrated such?

And how easily her pack had been put at another's mercy. Fear was something she was getting used to, she supposed that had been terror. Kanna found she could not properly contemplate the result of her packs death and her survival. As such the logical conclusion was to not allow such a thing to pass.

She needed to be stronger, she needed the mirror whole. Even if it meant she never would be.

* * *

1). This is from experience first time I saw him in a commercial I thought that was a woman. Just another strike against first impressions.

2). And there will be a pairing among the PIlot group. Shinji is still messed up from the 3I, and he will need to get over it further before he thinks of himself in such a maner. Of course there are others innvolved . . .

**A.N.**

Its alive! Snipa leaving was a big blow here. Next chapter we get to see what Inuyasaha and his lot are up too. Speaking of which I seriously need to clean up Kagome's part in that other chapter.

Merry Christmas!


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